Palace of Justice
by Lethanon
Summary: Trowa is called in to help with the Preventers investigation of a giant black box disappearing in space. 3x5, 1x2.
1. Chapter 1

Author: Lethanon

Archive:

Fandom: Gundam Wing

Pairings: 3x5, 1x2,

Warnings: Angst, Continuation, Preventers

_The__whirlwinds__of__revolt__will__continue__to__shake__the__foundations__of__our__nation__until__the__bright__day__of__justice__emerges.__But__there__is__something__that__I__must__say__to__my__people__who__stand__on__the__warm__threshold__which__leads__into__the__palace__of__justice.__In__the__process__of__gaining__our__rightful__place__we__must__not__be__guilty__of__wrongful__deeds.__Let__us__not__seek__to__satisfy__our__thirst__for__freedom__by__drinking__from__the__cup__of__bitterness__and__hatred._ - Martin Luther King

1.

He received a phone call. Innocent in its benign nature, certainly not the fault of the phone, nor either party on either end. Just a call; a delicate ring rattling through a small speaker that woke him from a doze he had been enjoying. He has the option not to answer, as do we all, but how often do you let it ring? How often do you answer? Do you know that when you don't, they just call back later? He knew that; Trowa knew. So when it came, that phone call, it was received. Answered. Acknowledged.

"Trowa? Oh for crying out loud if you're going to pick it up at least fucking say hello."

A wry turn of lips, Trowa smirked against the mouthpiece and waited. Some people were far too entertaining; it really was not his fault. They should learn to have patience, or the lions just might eat them…when they woke up.

"Wanker. Look. I need some advice on a job. I've got three days and I cannot stuff up, for any reason. So. Reckon you can swing by and gimme a hand?"

Trowa let his hair fall further over his face, as if he could hide the fact he was thinking about it; as if the silence were not evidence enough. Were he not thinking about it, Duo would be listening to the wondrous dial tone of his phone right now. It wasn't something Trowa particularly wanted to do. Duo's idea of swing by apparently included seven hours on a shuttle and a bit of colony hopping, but then if he was asking he must know that, which made Trowa wonder just what he was asking. Duo was far from the point of needing advice. It was vaguely interesting, and it beat sitting by the elephants and cleaning out their toes. The ringmaster had apparently decided he didn't like muddy elephant prints on the mat. He'd decided stranger things, in their time together, so Trowa had not argued. Nor had anyone else, sadly.

"I'll see you when I get there."

"You don't say, fuck Tro talk about stating the obvious, don't you ever think…"

Trowa wondered if Duo liked the sound of the dial tone. It seemed okay to Trowa, but maybe it wasn't Duo's sort of thing. Duo's sort of thing rarely was anyone else's, which was something Trowa actually liked about the world. When it came to Duo Maxwell, the whole two people never being exactly the same was blessed relief.

He packed light because he never packed heavy. Packing heavy was a death wish, whether it was war or not. Especially not. Preventers were called anytime anywhere and while Trowa was not a Preventer in any technical sense, he still got the calls, every now and then, and if Duo was asking him for help he wasn't stupid enough to think his call would not come sooner rather than later. So he packed only the bare essentials; toothbrush, paste, a change of clothes, comb and his wallet. It all fit nicely in one old sailor sack pack and he was out the door, keys in his pocket in under five minutes.

He had to pay for a cab, which was really rather annoying, but paying for a cab meant he wouldn't have to pay the fees for putting his car in the airport car park indefinitely. He'd never been stupid enough to fall for that trick himself, but Duo had, and Heero had been too amused by the entire affair to go get it for him. So he came back seven months later to the tune of a few thousand dollars, and Heero's grin. Duo still swears it was worth it. Trowa just thinks he's insane. Insanely broke, even.

He hadn't bothered to look at the schedule, because all he had to do was flash his badge at the desk and he was being lead to a Preventers flight where the mission crew were expected back in just under a half hour. Trowa had heard about it from Quatre, in his last call. He had been called away from Enterprises to help on some recon, since a few business tycoons were involved and not been happy about it. Late night bitch sessions were, apparently, one of Trowa's many specialties.

He sat quietly, in the rear of the small shuttle, pondering just how bitch sessions became his field. It had to be Quatre's doing, of that he was sure. Prior to meeting him he'd done little more than sit and mope. Somehow moping turned into listening to others moaning and then at some point he'd started moaning back, even if it was reluctantly. He still didn't like giving away information, and bitch sessions were specifically about doing just that. Still, you often got as much as you gave.

The pilot wasn't someone Trowa knew, but he found himself gravitating in that direction. It was a subtle thing at first; a slight feeling of annoyance that had him shifting seats time and again until he was in the front row. Then he was standing by the cabin door and he shrugged, and knocked, because if he was already there he way as well go in.

He was filling in the charts ready for filing when they got back. He just nodded at Trowa and didn't say anything, so Trowa interpreted it as an invitation and sat down, in the co-pilots seat. He really didn't like that, at all, and frowned darkly at the controls. He supposed it showed on his face, how else would the pilot have known?

"Want to swap seats?"

Blinking, Trowa just nodded slowly and shifted around the cockpit until they were swapped. He felt much more comfortable with the lead stick between his legs, thank you very much. Honestly. Gundam Pilot to co-pilot on random Preventers shuttle? Hell no.

"Headed to Headquarters?"

No, I'm taking a joyride through space in a Preventers shuttle because I'm bored and felt like it. Trowa stared at the man, blinked and nodded. Sometimes, he figured, it paid to be polite.

"You can fly?"

No, he preferred to sit in the pilot's seat because it had been a fantasy of his since he was an itty bitty toddler and now it was all coming true and he was leaping for joy, wasn't it obvious? Again, Trowa simply blinked and nodded. The pilot nodded too, as if Trowa had acknowledged something important.

"My co-pilot is sick and can't get back here on time. If they can't delay the flight, I'll co-pilot for you…if you can show me your license? I'll write it all in now."

Trowa raised a brow, but reached into his pocket and dug out…his phone. The guy blinked and shook his head, but Trowa simply flipped it open and dialed, waiting for it to pick up. He turned around so the other man could see the little video screen and then barely refrained a smirk as it came to life.

"Barton, I'm busy."

"Really, I never would have guessed."

It was fun, sharing glaring matches over the phone with Yuy, but they really didn't have time. Well, Trowa did, but he doubted Heero was sitting on a jet waiting for people to arrive. Especially since that was his desk at headquarters he was sitting at. He looked pissed, actually.

"Barton…" And he was damn near growling. Fascinating, really.

"This man wants to know if I can fly?" Trowa looked over his shoulder at the pilot, only to find him wide-eyed, staring at the little screen as if it just might kill him. Yuy glared out of the little screen.

"Kyle…pilot 03. 03, Kyle. I'm fucking busy."

The line went dead and Trowa actually found himself staring at it. Even Yuy had mellowed to a point where he generally played along and had some fun with the idiots who only recognised him as a Gundam pilot, but he had actually hung up! Just like the old days, which was not a comforting thought at all, really.

Kyle was actually shaking, staring at Trowa as if he had suddenly grown another head. Trowa was still staring at his phone, just a moment longer before he closed it and put it back in his jacket pocket, turning to study Kyle a little more carefully.

"My licenses are, as I'm sure you know, kept at Preventers Headquarters. But I'm sure they won't mind me flying a shuttle…you have a little piece of paper I think that says it's okay?"

Kyle really had that nodding thing down. Trowa smiled a little and would have said something more, but was distracted by a loud clatter of footsteps storming up the stairs and into the plane. The voices were rushed, commanding, medics and soldiers combining and Trowa could only stare at the blood soaked figure on a stretcher, another with a bandaged arm, one with a leg in a splint. Others milling about, stowing gear, strapping everything down. It was organised chaos, familiar and daunting in its familiarity. Then another voice broke through the others and Trowa found himself staring at the open doorway to the cockpit as a familiar blonde head appeared, mouth open and ready to snap orders.

Their eyes met and Trowa had only a second to think that wow he really did look pissed before Quatre was bellowing.

"Why are you just sitting there staring? Hands on the fucking stick, get us the fuck out of here!"

Ah yes, furious Quatre. He must have lost a man today. But then, it was a mystery to Trowa why Quatre was on the mission at all. Recon was a the mission. Was it? Trowa decided it would be better to ask questions later and fired up the engines. It was a good thing they didn't have to turn out onto the runway; it was already there, ready to go.

Not bothering to make any sort of retort, since he rather valued his body and knew Quatre wouldn't feel the same way about it if he was offended right now, Trowa started up the engines and headed out. The co-pilot smartly kept his mouth shut and kept filling in the paperwork. They could always alter the time a little; Une would never know the difference.

Three hours into the flight, the co-pilot handed him their status report and Trowa barely glanced at it, not bothering to say a word. No stops, straight through to headquarters was what he had been after all along, so he wasn't about to protest the small change in plans. The co-pilot patted him on the shoulder then went out to check on their cargo. Trowa waited, a faint smile turning up the corners of his lips. It was several minutes, but sure enough Quatre eased himself into the co-pilot's chair and picked up their updated chart, checking it.

"I'm sorry I swore at you."

"I'm not. You seemed to enjoy it." Trowa smirked a little, looking over at him and giving him a once over, but Quatre seemed uninjured save for a few dark bruises blotching otherwise flawless skin.

"Enjoying it was…the last thing on my mind." Quatre leant back in his seat and stared at the roof. Trowa wondered if they had ever considered sun roofs in space shuttles. "It wasn't meant to be like that."

Most people, Trowa supposed, would say `like what', but most people didn't already know what `like what' meant. Instead, he reached over and snatched up Quatre's hand, rubbing the back of it with his thumb comfortingly. Again it took a few, slow minutes but Quatre spun the chair to face Trowa's and slumped forward, into Trowa's lap. There were no tears, only weariness and, it seemed to Trowa, a little fear. It was never a comforting thing to discover a Gundam Pilot had found yet another thing that made him fear.

"Duo has called me in to assist," Trowa noted, by way of conversation, just in case Quatre needed a hand on where to start. It was odd, to have Quatre so quiet at his side and himself trying to start the conversation. It didn't make Trowa feel any more comfortable with the situation, whatever the hell that was.

"Duo's smarter than I was then." There was something in Quatre's eyes; a haunted look that sent a shiver down Trowa's spine. How long since that something that faded? How long since it had returned? Trowa wondered if he was always the last to know such things. If he was always going to be last. Just once, he thought he wouldn't mind being first to someone.

The shuttle beeped as it passed one of the Preventers beacons for the autopilot, but Trowa didn't let it engage, preferring to have control over anything and everything he could. It wasn't that he liked being in control, rather he liked there being order to things. He was a pilot and a pilot should fly; that was order, and so he flew, when he could get away with it.

"You know, it's not out of the ordinary to start the day with Maxwell swearing at me. But there was Maxwell, then Yuy and now you. Should I expect a call from Wufei sometime soon?"

Quatre stiffened, but it was a quick thing, his body relaxing again immediately.

"I'm sorry. I really didn't mean it. I lost three men on a surveillance of a satellite that slipped out of orbit."

Trowa blinked. A what? How the hell did a satellite slip out of orbit these days? And how did you lose three men doing that? Not that Trowa was questioning Quartre's abilities, he was just a little dumbfounded. It wasn't exactly what he would consider a normal reconnaissance detail.

"…How?"

"The satellite had no damage. We went over it with a fine tooth comb and found nothing. We were about to leave when one of my men radioed in about a strange box on the hull. We did an external scan and found a small attachment on the underside of the station, attached to the panel opposite the main control grid. We suspected sabotage, and called it in."

Still didn't explain how he lost three men making a phone call. Trowa frowned, thinking about satellites nearby. It really didn't make sense.

"Those satellites are all observation decks." There was, rather literally, nothing on them.

"We know. We called it in and while we were waiting for word back from Control the little box blew up. Damn thing must have had some kind of nuclear trigger. Everyone on the station was killed instantly, and our ship was caught in the blast radius."

Okay so that would probably be enough to kill a few people. Lucky anyone survived at all really.

"So…someone randomly blew up a surveillance satellite?" That made absolutely no sense. Stupidest vandalism yet.

"We don't know. We salvaged the data from the ship, and came to get this flight as soon as we could. Heero seems to think it's important, and Duo has already been briefed on a mission that apparently is related, though I can't see how. I'm glad he called you in."

It was as close as anyone would come to saying that he was off the shelf, and this was going to be an extended vacation from ordinary life. He had been bored anyway. A little excitement never did any harm. A few satellites blowing up here and there, the chance to watch Maxwell get killed…Trowa smirked, threading his fingers through Quatres's hair and massaging his scalp as he flew, one handed. He upped the speed, wondering just how many speeding tickets he could clock up for Preventers in one flight. He recalled Duo mentioning something about nineteen…

Trowa landed the shuttle at Preventers headquarters in a daze. He watched Quatre get his crew out from his place in the pilot's seat, staring in disbelief. The entire old building…hell, half the old city, was gone. It looked as though someone had erased what had been there, and replaced it with a futuristic paradise. The Earth Sphere symbol hung in 3D glory over their heads, floating in the sky like a giant balloon near the high strip of the state of the art shuttle launcher. And the Preventers was a vast expanse of gardens and ancient styled buildings lacquered in gem coloured foils, plated in gold and sparkling in the sun filtering in through the vague drifts of clouds lingering.

Preventers had changed since he was there last. The whole of Earth had apparently changed; moved into a new era that matched the technological advances made. Without having to pay for an endless war, they finally had the economy to rebuild everything that had been destroyed and replace the old with the new. The makeover was truly exceptional.

Trowa left the shuttle in a daze, met outside by the man dressed in a smart suit styled somewhere between eastern and western cultures, his long blond hair pinned back in a tail at the back of his head as he indicated for Trowa to follow. There was no argument. Trowa just followed at a sedate pace, taking it all in. As they wandered through a large archway, a wide garden visible on the other side, he took in the symbols carved into the thick blue enamel lacquer. There were words, in a strong bold font; the words of great leaders, of advocates for peace from decades long past. There were symbols from all around the world, each one lit by the sun and seeming to glow or shadowed by stone and standing out pitch among the bright colour.

The garden was filled with the soft trickling of water under their feet, visible through the clear path they walked across and there was an odd, discomforting sort of symbolism to walking on water. Trowa made fast work of it, not feeling as calmed as he had a feeling one was supposed to. He felt relieved when he at last reached the other side and was led inside, away from the too bright colours of garden and stone.

The inside was just as extravagant. Hallways of marble, and along the walls mirrors interspersed between the portraits of men and women, little plaques under their images with names and dates and Trowa felt nervous to see they were the dead from numerous wars. On every wall in every hallway. A litany to the dead, beautiful and sorrowful and terrifying. Trowa wondered how many of them he had put on those walls.

A large set of heavy looking doors opened and the man with the blonde hair, without a word, pointed a hand in that direction, and promptly left. Trowa stood a moment longer, staring at the doors. Heavy, black and emblazoned with the Preventers symbol. He took a deep, unsettled breath, and went in.

A huge mahogany table stretched the length of the room, down its heart. Along the walls were massive monitors that shoed various photographs, reports, blue prints…countless protected pieces of information pertaining to a mission. Trowa recognised it immediately for what it was, and seconds later deduced whose mission as Duo came appeared from under the table, a scowl on his face, clutching a pile of muddled papers that he tossed on the table in seeming disgust. He looked up, eyes wide, and the scowl transformed quickly into a wide grin, feet already moving as he bolted around and Trowa braced himself. Seconds later arms wrapped tight around his shoulders and he gave in for a moment to the warmth of the old camaraderie.

"Fuck, its good to see you! Would you look at this mess? How the hell am I supposed to make an honest to god plan that takes everything into account when everything doesn't even fit in a room this big?"

A dilemma, certainly. Trowa smirked a little, patting Duo on the shoulder. It was a challenge certainly, but it was one that already piqued his interest, and obviously had a damn good hold of Duo's interest already.

"Duo…when did we get a new city?" Because really, that had to be the first answer he got.

Duo blinked and shook his head, as if incredulous that Trowa might not know.

"They've been rebuilding for about a year now. They're really fast; employed half the people on the planet, I swear. Everyone wants to help out. A lot of people get off their real jobs and come help out construction crews for free. I think they're just bored. But whatever, they do an unreal job so I guess its all good. Preventers was one of the first things rebuilt. Earth Sphere wanted to show a united front with the Shuttle Port, Preventers and the ES Headquarters all in one huge complex, so now we get these nice flashy state of the art boardrooms for offices."

"This is your office?" Trowa snorted, and then blanked all expression from his face when Duo made an affirmative noise, wandering back down the length of the table to where folders were spread in an untidy heap across the middle section. Trowa wasn't sure he ever wanted to work for Preventers again if they were going to make him work in a room like this, but he dutifully followed Duo and leant on the edge of the table, scanning the various folders and documents.

"Quatre lost three men."

"Aw, shit. Betcha he swore a blue streak…"

Trowa just nodded and waited while Duo flipped through various pages of things and finally dragged out a photo, handing it to Trowa.

A symbol, engraved on the dark airlock of…something. The photo was a close up and only showed the door and the airtight seal around its edge. And the symbol engraved on it. What appeared to be the detached tip of a pyramid, with rays of sunlight pouring off it. A piece of the old symbol of the Illuminati; Trowa recognised it immediately. Only it was overlaid with a sword through its centre and the third eye was no longer open. Trowa looked to Duo, confused.

Duo went to a table against the wall, where a laptop was plugged in and Trowa was about to make a snide remark about Yuy rubbing off on him when the entire wall changed pictures and there, spread out across the length of the room was a massive black box, floating in space. Trowa slowly lifted a hand and folded his hair behind his ear, out of his face, staring at it with two wide eyes.

"It's estimated to be twenty miles long and twelve wide. At least seven deep. Every time we send anything near it, our satellites or ships are destroyed and it disappears. It takes months to find again. It's currently somewhere on the far side of Saturn."

Trowa took a step closer, looking carefully at the grainy front of the image. He held the photo up and sure enough, there on the front of the floating box was the insignia he held in his hand. Rather the photo was cropped from this larger picture. He could see the edge of a planet in the background of the larger shot and vaguely recognised Venus.

"What is it?"

"It's a colony. Fully contained and self sufficient, completely sealed and carrying technological advancements we can't even imagine. I'm serious Tro. The damn thing vanishes. Poof, gone, as if it never was."

Trowa walked closer and reached out, fingers trailing across the cool screen, as if he could touch it. Whatever it was, it was enticing, and beautiful, and he wanted in. There was a knowing look on Duo's face when Trowa looked his way again.

"We've never seen anything on it open, but this hatch alone at the front measures three miles circumference. Not sure how the hell that works, maybe it was just the door to the arc when they were building it, I dunno. There are countless grooves along the underside of it, here…" He fished out a ream of photos and started spreading them over the table, pointing out the deeper groves and speculating which might open.

"They look like bay doors." Thousands of them. Duo just nodded.

"Are they armed?" What else would they need that many bay doors for?

"We don't know. That's the problem. All attempts to communicate with it have failed, and while we've never been able to prove it, it's rather obvious that it's armed in some way, because our ships and satellites keep blowing up."

"Like the satellite Quatre was on," Trowa murmured, tracing the undercarriage of the image.

"It blew up? Was wondering how he lost three men…"

Made two of them. Trowa just nodded, knowing they were both in the same wavelength. He sat more comfortably, crawling up onto the table to sit cross legged on it, laying the photos out in front of himself. He doubted it was how Une wanted to see the tables put to use, but Trowa didn't care. He was comfortable and excited for the first time in years.

"How do we know its self sufficient?"

"We don't for sure. But we've never seen it open." Duo dragged out the reports on the few recorded sightings. It didn't mean much. In the months they took to locate it again, the floating monstrosity could dock anywhere in the solar system and fill up with anything and everything it required. Only, how did it do that without anyone seeing or reporting it? Okay, maybe it really was self sufficient.

"Does it carry life?"

"It's estimated to carry a million people." Duo dumped a life form scan report in front of him and Trowa picked it up, scanning over it. To all intents and purposes, it looked normal.

"Is it…"

"Man made? Everything on it can be found in this solar system, for the right price. Everything we can see at any rate, which granted…ain't much. Life signs are human as best we can tell too."

It was incredible. An impossibility. There was no possible means for anyone to have built it without a single soul catching on. And then to populate it. And Maintain it. And hide it. Trowa couldn't fathom the detail to the planning that the entire project must have entailed.

"The symbol is Illuminati in origin, but it's not theirs. What is it?"

"No one knows. We've checked every available registry and asked every expert alive and no one has ever seen it."

No leads there. Trowa shook his head in wonder.

"Thanks for calling me."

"You kidding? How the fuck do you think I am getting in there, alone? Heero's giving me bruises holding on at night! When Heero fucking Yuy is scared shitless you're going to die, you fucking phone a friend man."

Trowa laughed at that, a low chuckle that was part amused by the way Duo observed the world, and part delight that his friends were apparently still together and making it work.

"He swore at me earlier too…"

"Heero?" Duo seemed startled. Trowa supposed it was a little out of character, or it had been. Now he thought he understood why Heero had been so busy.

"Mmm…Seems the day for it."

"Yeah," Duo grinned. "Least I started it!" He grabbed another pile of reports; schematics this time and Trowa flicked over them dutifully, taking in the details, while Duo sat staring at the wall, enthralled. Trowa couldn't blame him. This was the mission of a lifetime. The discovery of a lifetime. He still couldn't understand how no one had seen it. How had Preventers even managed to track it down? Why only Preventers?

"It's a trap."

"Of course." Duo just grinned. "But for who?"

"Does it matter?"

Neither of them answered, which was enough of an answer.

"Wanna see the menu?"

Trowa just smiled and let his hair fall back into place.


	2. Chapter 2

2:

Of all the people Trowa expected to see waiting for him to have lunch with, Heero Yuy was perhaps the last person on the list. But then, he wasn't really there to have lunch with Trowa, but rather with Duo, who, Trowa discovered, didn't necessarily eat lunch, but rather inhaled it, or so it seemed. One moment there was a plate with three times as much food as was on Trowa's, the next it was empty and Duo was leaning back, a hand smoothing over his extended belly while he groaned about being full. That he was full, Trowa did not doubt at all. Nor did he make any comment, preferring to sit quietly and sip his juice.

"You've seen It?" It was the first thing Yuy had said to him that didn't involve `fuck' and `busy'. Trowa was beginning to wonder if he had sauce on his chin.

"I've told you a hundred times, it's not an `it'; he has a name!"

Trowa blinked and looked from Heero to Duo expectantly. It did? Heero's jaw tightened and it was rather obvious this was not the first time they had discussed the matter.

"The big floating black box…is a he?"

"Yes," Duo huffed, at exactly the same time Heero said "no." Trowa raised a brow, amused. The box was and was not a he.

"It's a hermaphrodite?"

"No!" Well, at least they agreed on something. Trowa took another, much longer, sip of his juice.

"Its name is Frank!" Duo declared this as if it were of some sort of odd importance. Trowa shared a sympathetic look with Heero and took a bite of his sandwich. It didn't taste all that great and he could only assume that they had spent so much money on building the building that there was nothing left for a sandwich maker. Heero seemed to understand his pain, putting down his sandwich after just a few bites, taking a long swig of milk and getting up, grabbing his jacket and looking to all intents and purposes very ready to get back to work.

"How come you're in such a hurry? Got a date?" Duo seemed rather sure of himself, in Trowa's opinion. Heero, on the other hand, simply smirked.

"Yeah. I always had a thing for big black shiny Franks."

Trowa dutifully devoured his sandwich and avoided Duo's glare. The juice was very good. Really. When he at last pushed the remains of his lunch away, Duo was already on his feet, ready to go. Trowa followed him back to their office, not really surprised to find Heero already there, typing away on his laptop somewhere toward the far end of the table. Duo hopped up on the table edge and slid down to his side with what seemed like practiced ease. Trowa wondered if he did that when Une was around.

"We have clearance."

Trowa smirked a little, amused at the way Duo straightened, a slight almost imperceptible change from fun to serious. It was a vague sense of focus that hadn't been there just a moment before. It was like watching something finally come out of its shell.

The folders were still spread out in every direction across the table, so Trowa once again ignored the seats and slid along the length of wood, getting comfortable, cross legged somewhere in the middle. He picked up the first document he could reach and flipped it open. He was aware of Heero's fingers hitting the keys and Duo flicking through image after image on the monitors, but he didn't look up, merely listening to the sustained aural presence while he read.

There wasn't much known about their target, which had been appealing at first but the more Trowa read the less he liked about it. After three hours he understood why Duo had called him. Or rather, he could only assume Duo had called Heero, who had told him to call Trowa, and not even Duo bothered to argue with Heero. Or something to that effect. Whatever. Trowa was simply pleased Duo would not be going alone.

Trowa saw no way in, other than the airlock on the front, which was why Duo had shown it to him first, obviously. The doors in the bottom were everywhere but it was impossible to tell how they opened and they couldn't take the risk. With the front at least they had some idea of the actual mechanics involved. It was the only thing that appeared to function externally. Unfortunately, Trowa had his suspicions that this meant it wasn't actually attached to the internal area of the box at all but he couldn't plan a mission based on suspicions.

Well into the fifth hour he found a report from an outreach team that had encountered Frank somewhere in the vicinity of Pluto. Intrigued, Trowa read slowly through the collected data, which appeared no different to the other encounters, despite the fact the outreach ship made several notes of their own troubles in the outer reaches. There were many forms of speculative technological advancements as a result, but as with everything nothing concrete.

Well into the eighth hour Trowa put aside a report on a missing satellite, and then picked it up again just as quickly, flicking back through the last few pages he had read. He frowned, then slid off the edge of the table, wandering over to Duo's laptop and typing with one hand while he kept reading. He was aware of the tapping of Heero's fingers stopping, and of Duo hovering near his shoulder, watching him, but he didn't pay much attention to them, too busy inputting the codes for a communications satellite printed across the top of the page. He punched in the appropriate dates and frowned again as the screen agreed with the piece of paper in his hand.

"What you got?"

Trowa wandered back to the table, and dumped the report where they both could see it, a little amused at the way Heero snatched the report and Duo damn near sat in his lap to get a look. They both frowned, puzzled. They had both obviously read and discarded the report, in much the same manner Trowa had been about to.

"Our communications satellites are state of the art; they were all replaced or upgraded at the end of the war."

"Yeah, we know. They came before some of the colony repairs even…" Duo was still frowning at the report, but Heero was reading a little closer, brows furrowed darkly.

"So why did it take a state of the art communications satellite seven hours to receive a `non-response' signal from a dead satellite?"

Duo swore loudly, snatching the paper out of Heero's hand and stalking down the length of the table with it. Heero just sat in his chair and studied his knuckles. Trowa didn't blame him; they were looking a little pale.

"Heero, the seat's going to break if you keep doing that," Duo muttered distractedly, head still buried in the report. "So they took the satellite on board Frank…while it was still functioning. And then they spat it out and destroyed it."

Stagnant air settled between them. Trowa had the odd urge to file his nails, but refrained.

"Why?"

Was that really something that mattered? Trowa didn't bother answering, simply waiting, almost hoping someone else would try to answer. No one did. They went through every other report instead, looking for any other sign that anything at all had ever made it inside Frank, but there was nothing. Just the white and black drone and the lull of the computer hum.

Trowa woke to a hand, firm and immediate on his shoulder. Had it been any lighter, there probably wouldn't be an arm there. As it was, Trowa looked idly up at Heero, as if he hadn't been asleep a few seconds ago. Heero gave the look right back at him but there was sleep dust in the corner of his eye. Trowa just smiled lazily and stretched, lean and languid, watching in some amusement as Heero woke Duo and was dragged down into a long morning kiss. Ah yes, the wonders of domestic life. Trowa doubted the lunch juice tasted that good right now.

The lines of the report folder he had been reading were imprinted on Trowa's cheek. He rubbed at them distastefully and was just grateful he hadn't drooled on anything and smudged the ink. Having to explain that to Yuy would be bad enough; explaining it to Une was inconceivable.

"Gah, this is stupid! There is nothing else in here, we've been through it dozens of times. We should just get on a damn shuttle and fly it there. We'll have plenty of time to think of a plan while we're flying!"

Apparently frustration had gotten the better of Duo. Trowa sat back and watched as he rocked back and forward on his heels, ready to move at any moment, but for the moment contained. It was like looking at Yuy holding a trigger. Explosion imminent.

"Okay."

Both Trowa and Duo stared at Heero. Trowa was sure he hadn't heard correctly, and was still waiting for someone to laugh when Heero spoke again, voice low and steady and terribly ready.

"We're not getting anything done just sitting here and there is no guarantee it'll stay where it is. We should just…get on a shuttle and go."

Just like that. Trowa smirked, but waited until the sudden whirlwind of movement that was Duo Maxwell had left the room before getting up himself.

"We being…all three of us," he noted, amused.

Heero just pushed past him and went off to file the application with Une. Trowa leant against the table for a long time, getting one good last look at all the information laid out before him. Then he left, heading for the weaponry which wasn't exactly the easiest place to find. There were a hell of a lot of signs and arrows, and only one little room right at the end of them all. Understandable, certainly, but Trowa found something about it rather odd. Still, he handed over his ID and wandered in, looking through the various racks and drawers, trying to find anything of interest, but sadly they didn't have a Gundam in the closet.

They did have a lovely set of knives though, polished to perfection as if they had never been used. For all Trowa knew, they hadn't. He claimed the whole set as well as a pistol and several grenades before rummaging through the different weapons packs available. He was almost finished going through the third pack when Duo arrived, a wide grin on his excited face as he grabbed a machine gun, several rounds of ammo and two packs. Apparently he already knew what was in them. He sat on the front desk, waiting for Trowa to make up his mind.

"Pressure, pressure," Trowa murmured under his breath, the soft snort from Duo's direction the only indication anyone had heard. He wandered around the room on silent feet, hands barely moving, bag magically getting fatter. He could see Duo's slight frown, could feel the way Duo's eyes were boring into him, trying to see what went in, but Trowa was good at his job, and Duo knew he wasn't going to see anything. That wasn't the point; it was the game of trying that mattered. So Duo tried and Trowa packed and when he was done they shared a small upturn of lips that was neither a grin or a smirk but rather just a knowing and they went to the garage together, neither surprised to see Heero with a bag packed on the back seat of the tank-like Hummer they were taking to the launch bay. Trowa didn't feel like pointing out that bicycles would have gotten them there just as easily. Explaining the concept of overkill to Heero Yuy had never worked in the past, after all.

The launch was set and ready by the time they arrived and it seemed almost too simple a thing, to just climb out of a vehicle and walk onto a ship, strap yourself in and listen as Yuy counted down. It wasn't a large shuttle, but it was roomier than anything Trowa was used to and he sat quietly, turning idly in his chair and taking in the details. State of the art, everything new and shiny and hardly used at all, maybe just for a few patrols. Decent weapons system but nothing too scary, certainly no cannons, which was a shame in his humble opinion. Nothing said who was in charge like a nice big cannon.

"I know, not exactly the scariest thing out there, right?" Duo rolled his eyes, seat position unlocked so that he could spin in dizzying circles while they waited for the launch. Trowa just shrugged and picked at a piece of lint on his shirt.

"They should come in black."

It was Duo's turn to roll his eyes, spinning back in his chair, a twist of his knee locking it into the forward position as the call came through that they were go. The calls were fast, efficient, well practised but not rehearsed. They flowed off the tongue simply, like hi and how are you and have a nice day. Go, thrusters, boosters, releasing, prepare. Easiest cocktail party Trowa could imagine. The shuttle didn't even shake that much as it spurted up through the launch capsule and was spat out on the other side of the ozone, in free space, rocketing toward its co-ordinates.

There was no point sitting there watching while they punched in the destination to the automated systems. Trowa got up and wandered into the back room, grabbing his pack and quickly tossing his laptop on the table, booting it up and downloading the few interesting files they'd found from the Preventers database. He stared at the image of Frank on the screen, looking so small, benign, almost innocent, blending in with it's surrounds, hunting satellites and eating them up, spitting them out.

"Why?"

It made no sense. He sighed heavily and slumped back in his seat, just staring, hands limp, fingers hanging off the ends of the armrests as he stared, long and white like the tendrils of a jellyfish, boneless in their limpidity. He was absorbed by the image, and by the idea of it; an enclosed colony, an isolated world, supposedly far more advanced than anything he could imagine. It was enchanting, mystifying and just a little terrifying. He wanted in, badly.

"You keep staring at that screen you're gonna need specs. Not that a man in glasses isn't hot as hell, I'm just sayin' is all." Duo sat down next to him, sprawling in the chair and staring at the screen with the same wanton expression, though for a different reason. Duo wanted to crack it open; to prove he could defeat it from the outside. Trowa wanted to sneak inside, envelop it from within and overcome it from the heart. But ultimately they did, perhaps, have the same goal in mind, whatever that goal actually was.

"If it's so much smarter than us…what does it need with the satellites? If it's completely contained, why interact with us at all?" It made no sense, it didn't fit any pattern Trowa could think of and he nervously tapped his finger on the arm rest, his stare slowly transforming into something that might almost be considered a glare.

"Information? I mean, the ones out there ain't got nothin' else on `em. Just a bunch of footage, a herald message and information getting relayed from the colonies to earth."

Information. What information? Trowa sat up and typed quickly, bringing up the dates of each satellite disappearance, the period of time between its first failure in communication to it's destruction, then cross referenced it against every missive being relayed between those satellites at that time.

A small screen came up and blinked at him.

"Two hours?" Duo blinked, sighed heavily and slumped down onto the floor, sprawling anew, looking for all the world like someone had done him a grievous wrong. "Well that sucks."

Trowa agreed, but he sat, watching the computer running its diagnostics, trying to find his answer, feeling each beat of his heart as it pumped the blood through his body, aware of every inhale and exhale of breath, perfectly still, content to wait for his reward.

After twenty three minutes, Duo fell asleep, snoring softly at his feet. Heero came in and set up his laptop across from Trowa's. The rhythm of his fingers hitting the keys was exactly one hundred and seventy six keys a minute; his fingers never tired and he didn't hesitate on a single word. Trowa didn't care to know what he was writing, afraid to look away from his screen as if the seconds might suddenly disappear and he might see his answer a split second after it appeared. Split seconds, Gundam pilots knew, could be all the difference.

At exactly one hour and nineteen minutes, Duo woke himself up when he turned and scraped his nose on the cold floor, resulting in a loud, rather pig-like snort that had Heero pause and only manage to type one hundred and twenty four letters that minute. It also made Trowa's pulse increase by the tiniest of moments, which meant his pulse was no longer in time with his counting down of the minutes. It took a further four minutes and thirty three seconds to get it in time again.

"Are we there yet?" Duo yawned loudly and rolled to his feet, stretching languidly and prowling out to the cockpit, a heavy sigh indicating that no, they were not there yet.

At exactly one hour, forty seven minutes and fifty nine seconds Trowa's computer screen froze, for exactly nine seconds. Oddly the same amount of time it took for Trowa's heart to take its next beat. He sat up in the chair as it spat out two lines.

Line one.

La Pasionaria_._

Line two.

Origen.

Staring at the screen, Trowa immediately turned it so both Heero and Duo could also see. He was now breathing exactly three times faster than he had been less than a minute ago and it annoyed him, but the screen had his near undivided attention.

"The Passion Flower?" Duo frowned, tugging harshly on his braid as if the pain of it pulling on his scalp would induce an influx of brain activity. Trowa doubted it, but didn't want to exclude the possibility and so didn't point out the possible ridiculousness of the action. Besides, he was thinking about passion flowers. Somehow he didn't think Frank was a fan of Valentine's Day.

"Origin is spelt incorrectly," Heero noted coldly, pen tapping exactly nine times every seven seconds, fingers no longer typing. Trowa watched the pen nib rise and fall distractedly, but he was thinking of Origen. He doubted the computer had made a typo.

The computer screen froze again, for exactly nine seconds but this time Trowa's heart matched the pulse of the screen's lighting as his green eyes stared wide at the screen.

Line three.

Hello, Trowa Barton.

There is a certain quality to silence that isn't silent at all.

"Dude…Frank knows your name!" There was no question as to where the third line of text had come from, nor even any questioning as to how Frank might have traced one small query from a single line computer in amongst the billions, traced it back to one tiny shuttle currently far from port and somehow mysteriously known it's current occupant and user. There was no questioning anything, when one was first questioning Frank.

Hesitantly, Trowa reached out and typed. He only typed on eleven keys in one minute, but he didn't feel a lesser man for not managing the apparent quota of one hundred and seventy six.

Line Four.

Hello, Frank.

A pause in the air and yet no one held their breath, it was more like there simply wasn't breath to hold. As if air took a moment before it breathed, if indeed air breathed at all. They simply stared, waiting, poised for the unknown.

"Dude, Frank doesn't even know his name is Frank…"

"Why do you keep saying dude?" Heero frowned at Duo, obviously annoyed. People didn't frown when they were not annoyed, after all. Trowa, at least, thought this was obvious, but there were some things that simply never seemed obvious to Duo Maxwell.

"I watched a crappy old school movie a few days ago," Duo shrugged. "They said it a lot."

"And you thought it bore continuous repeating," Heero noted flatly, answered with a grin and a smacking kiss on the cheek.

"Dude."

Line Five.

I see you.

"Funny I don't see Frank. Kinda hard to miss him too. I mean, you know…being the size of a whole colony and all, it's kind of hard to play hide and seek. Though, I'll admit, this is Frank we're talking about and you know…Frankly…" Duo smirked and rolled his eyes. "Anything's possible? But really…not seeing the Frank here, and I don't see how Frank can see tiiiiny little us when we can't see not so tiny little Frank. Not that I'm saying the guy is fat or anything! He's just…Frankish."

"Like Frankenstein?" Heero didn't sound impressed. Didn't look it either.

"Exactly!" But Duo's middle name was apparently impressed, with himself if that smirk was anything to go by.

"You named perhaps the greatest scientific achievement of our age Frank…after a monster from a fictional work that isn't even in publication now?" Heero almost sounded incredulous, if he even knew how. Trowa was not convinced he did, and didn't have time to ask.

"One hour, fifty eight minutes and thirty three seconds is the exact amount of time that lapsed between Quatre's team's arrival at the station and the explosion of the satellite they were investigating," Trowa noted, frowning.

"Yeah….so?"

"One hour, fifty eight minutes and thirty three seconds, minus one hour, forty seven minutes and fifty nine seconds, leaves eleven minutes twenty six seconds…" He checked the clock coldly. "Minus three minutes nineteen seconds…"

"Eight minutes seven seconds," Yuy noted, still frowning. Trowa wondered if he was going to have those cute little frown lines Peacecraft was starting to show. Duo would probably get a kick out of that.

"Reverse."

They were still, just looking at him and Trowa growled softly, bolting up from his seat and rushing to the cockpit, aware of them following him.

"Reverse! We have to reverse now!" He switched to manual control as Heero and Duo dropped into the pilot and co-pilots seats, switching to reverse immediately, Duo glancing over the back of the seat, face a mask Trowa had hoped to never see again. So much for the simple life.

"Care to tell us why we're going backwards?"

"We're in the zone! Reverse!" He checked his watch and felt his stomach lurch. Three minutes. His fingers raced on the navigation, guiding them, drawing a map in his mind's eye, trying to calculate the area, mass, volume, distance of empty space.

"We're going, we're going!" Duo harped, over and over, a bored, annoyed litany as the seconds ticked by. Two minutes. One. Seconds…

"Stop!" The shuttle came to an immediate halt and both Heero and Duo grunted as the thrusters protested the harsh treatment. Their mouths opened, as if to say something, perhaps even the same thing, but the space in front of them altered, twisted, the darkness changing, almost shining but not. Pitch turned black; familiar. Five seconds.

The small pyramid with its shining rays lit up in front of them, the sword slicing through its heart and the closed eye slowly changed, a light appearing in the fold.

"Dude, the eye is opening!"

"Stop with the Dude!"

"But it's opening!"

"We can see that!" It was interesting to Trowa, that Heero engaged Duo these days. He hoped that was a good thing; a sign that Heero was bowing to life in general. A sign that even he could change. Change was good, it meant things were getting better. Or worse. But at least they were changing and not just stagnating. Stagnation was boring and led to complacency. Complacency was bad.

Trowa stepped forward to look up at it, in the space they had been, waiting, laying the bait, setting the trap, expectant. It had never looked so huge in the pictures; no image could begin to describe the feeling. The shuttle seemed not to exist in the face of it. In fact, the whole world seemed not to exist.

"I see you," he whispered softly, aware of Duo looking up at him but he didn't look down, didn't dare blink as the eye opened, counting down the seconds, pulse in perfect synchronization with time as it seemed to slow and eventually…end.

The light was blinding, as if it weren't light but truth or some other intangible thing, blasting existence into infinity and leaving nothing but the warm enveloping feeling of completeness, of coming home.

It wasn't light, so much as an epiphany. Trowa could feel tears in his eyes, burning, needing to close, but he couldn't move, couldn't look away, couldn't begin to recall his own name, lost to it; lost in the light in the darkness.

_I see you, Trowa Barton._

_I see you, Frank._

He was aware of the light closing, of the eye sealing, of Duo and Heero blinking, talking rapidly before they quieted, looking over their shoulders at the empty space, at the doorway to the next room and the nothing between them and it. He was aware of them calling his name, but it didn't sound like his name at all, their voices blurred, blended, reformed into new shapes until he wasn't sure he had ever heard his name before, was not even sure he had a name. A name, what was a name? What was it for?

The eye closed and his opened. He stared at the white ceiling for a long time as a gentle hand brushed the hair back off his face. He felt warm, almost wet with it, as if he had just been born, which he wasn't sure he hadn't. He wasn't, in fact, sure of anything. It made him frown and try to focus on his surroundings; to see beyond the white.

He caught a glimpse of raven hair, a vague wisp that slid out of his line of sight for a moment before returning. A face hovered over him, all clean, soft lines, large dark eyes, as black as the nothing that hid inside the light; light as creamy as the soft undertone to the caramel skin. A brief smile as gentle fingers stroked his cheek, somehow welcoming.

"Who are you?"

"I am Nataku." A smooth voice, low and soothing; beautiful.

"And I am?"

"You are Triton."


	3. Chapter 3

3:

Trowa sat up so fast his head spun, or the room did...something was definitely spinning. It took a few turns to convince himself he needed to look down, so he did that, leaning over, resting his hands on his knees as he took deep breaths and struggled to keep his juice down. It had, after all, been good juice, and the floor looked exceptionally shiny. Not at all like something he should puke on. That didn't mean not puking was easy.

The hand on his back rubbed in small circles that only emphasized the spinning of the room and he side stepped away, turning his head to glare and regretting it instantly as he stumbled several steps more than he had intended to take, right into the wall. But walls were good for sliding down, so your ass was on the floor and you could hang your head properly and grab it at the same time. He cradled his mind and prayed for the spinning to end. He'd never had a hangover like this, had always been pretty tolerant of alcohol, but then he didn't remember drinking anything other than juice, and that had been a while ago. Good juice too! Not funky juice.

"It takes the body several tries to adjust, and some still never get used to it. Your molecular structure needs to solidify itself again."

His what now? Trowa was sure that made no sense whatsoever and he lifted his head, leaning it against the wall in the hope that would at least provide some relief from the spinning and stared steadfastly at the only other thing in the room. A person, which was good because the person had spoken and if it had been a cow that would have just been awkward.

"You..." The same voice he had heard overlapping Heero and Duo, as they faded and it took precedence.

"Who are you?"

"I already told you. I'm Nataku."

"Funny, I've heard that name before." So many times, screamed in battle, or cried in sleep, or whispered in confusion as a boy struggled to become a man. No one had told him where Wufei was and his stomach dropped, but the person in front of him had certain things Wufei had never had. Like breasts, for starters.

"Like the warrior goddess?"

"Something like that," she agreed, coming over to help him up. "You should feel much better in a few hours. In the meantime, I can show you your room."

He didn't bother arguing because usually when you had your own room you also had your own bed and right then a bed sounded like the bees knees to Trowa. Though he wasn't really sure if Bees even had knees. He focussed on this strange idea and the liquid feeling in his knees slowly faded. His stomach protested walking, but his vision steadied and he contemplated Bee anatomy as they walked in silence all the way to His Room.

His. Room. It was...roomy. And apparently his. It was also very, very white. The door was a strange affair, there one minute and gone the next, and when he walked inside it suddenly reappeared with him on the inside of it and Nataku on the out. He didn't even bother trying to unlock it; it didn't have a door handle, or even any substance at all that he could tell. It looked almost like a holograph, only he couldn't see through it and his stomach was still awol enough that he wasn't willing to risk stepping into the strange almost-holographic and likely somehow booby trapped door.

Instead he focussed on his room. It was simple, with a wide screen across one wall connected to what looked like a computer, though he couldn't be sure. A small desk to one side with chair, a large and comfortable looking bed and a door leading into a nicely sized bathroom. It was completely liveable, and damn near glowed in the dark with how white and clean it was. Trowa sighed and went to lay down.

He stared at the ceiling, hands folded neatly over his stomach, which as promised was starting to feel much better now that the room wasn't spinning in circles. He wasn't convinced, now that he could think straight, that it hadn't been the room spinning. Everything had been so white, and silent, but that didn't mean the room couldn't spin.

He felt the odd desire to talk to himself, but wasn't sure the room wasn't bugged, and if that was a computer and he used it, they would no doubt record everything he looked at. But the longer he lay there, the more certain facts turned to truth and he had to accept them.

One, he had been abducted. Possibly, he was beginning to suspect, transported like in one of those tacky science fiction shows Duo loved to watch, from one place to another. Hence why his body needed to remember its molecular structure. He hoped it had a damn good memory. Or that it made him look like a wet dream on crack.

Two, Heero was going to kill him. Whenever he found him. And when he was done Duo was going to do horrible things with his body. They would be worried, because Une was going to have their heads for losing him. And then Quatre would swear.

Three, the only human contact, if it was even human, he had available to him shared an eerily familiar name, connected to the only person from his old life who hadn't contacted him in the last few days. And Trowa did not believe in coincidences.

Four. He was pretty sure he was inside Frank, and he was a little disturbed as to whether that technically meant he had been eaten by Frank, and was yet to be regurgitated, or broken down in stomach acid. He blamed Duo entirely for humanising Frank.

After what he thought might have been hours, but suspected was not quite so long, Trowa gave in and went to the computer. He tapped the screen and it came to life.

"Touch. Nice." Not even Preventers had a screen like this. Maybe he should work for Frank, and send a Christmas card to Duo comparing office cubicles each year just to make him jealous? He shook his head and grabbed the seat from the desk, pulling it over to sit in the middle of the room, staring up at the screen and reaching out to tap, at least a metre away from the wall, at thin air.

The computer responded and he whistled low. A collection of icons appeared and he tapped 'location'. A four way screen came up, each with a heading laid over the image below. 'Map Ship', 'Video Ship', 'Map external' and 'Video external'. He stared at the options, shrugged and went for Map Ship.

He was a very small blinking light in the far corner of a massive warren of disturbingness. He drank it all in, memorising as much of it as he could before realising he was looking at Level 4 of Sector 96. That didn't make him feel any better about the miniscule size of His Room and its tony blinking dot. Size didn't matter, it was true, unless you suspected you were kidnapped and being held prisoner on a giant disappearing space station.

Giant didn't begin to describe it. Duo was right; Frank was a monster. He went for Video Ship and the image changed into a shot of his front door. From the other side.

"That's handy..." He experimented a little and found he could 'wander'; using his fingers to walk down the corridor, a camera following his every move. He wandered eight corridors before he saw another person, and they looked so entirely uninteresting that he gave up and went for Map external.

Unfortunately, that took him to a map of the universe. The one they were in, at any rate, which was Home, but the inscriptions on the outer edges listed nearby universes as if they were places they might possibly go. As if they were places they could have been right now. He hurriedly switched to Video External and spun in a wide circle before spotting, some distance away, the tiny dot that was the space craft Heero and Duo were on. He zoomed in until he could see through the windows of the hull and the lump in his throat made his chest ache.

So close, but so far. They were arguing, faces flushed but somehow stoic. They were all in so much trouble, and they didn't have know the half of it. For that matter, neither did Trowa and he was the one sitting in His new shiny Room inside Frank, spying on them.

He exited the viewing options with a heavy sigh, looking at the other options with a small frown, not knowing what half of them even were, amused that there was an option for food delivery, and instead chose 'communication'.

There was a query box asking for the number and he slumped in his seat. Was he supposed to punch in the number of the room he wanted to call? He had no idea but when he pulled up the number pad he smirked and typed in 37265. Two option buttons appeared; call and leave a message. He went for leave a message and the screen came up blank. He stared at it for a very long time.

"Well that's weird."

The words appeared on the screen and he bit his lip in annoyance. Of course, it would be voice activated. What on Frank wasn't state of the art, after all, and made for your convenience. The lock on the door, obviously. If there was a lock on the door.

"You get used to the re-molecularization."

He damn near fell off his chair. He stared at the words printed under his own on the screen and took several deep breaths, reminding himself he was a goddamned Gundam pilot and he didn't freak out over talking computers. Often. Or something.

"Frank?"

"Yes?"

He was talking to Frank. Or something pretending to be Frank. Or maybe there was just some random person on board of floating black box Frank, who happened to actually be named Frank? Why didn't this thing have a phone book, and an instruction manual for that matter?

"Why did you kidnap me?"

"I didn't. I sent you an invitation. You came."

He did what now? Trowa vaguely remembered the timings that no one else had spotted. Had Frank known they would be stuck, and call him? He was listed under 'problem solving' on the Preventers database. He'd assumed it was some strange joke of Yuy's but maybe not. Had Frank seen it and gone and blown up a satellite, killed three of Quatre's men and lured them in by waiting in that same spot just to invite him on board?

That seemed a little farfetched. It definitely made him frown.

"I don't remember getting anything in the mail."

There was a long pause. It was impossible to say if Frank was considering an adequate response, or had run off to use the loo. Trowa was in no position to do anything but wait either way.

"I apologise. The mailman wouldn't collect my consignment."

And it had a sense of humour. Wasn't that just charming. It made Trowa want to punch it in the face and strangle it until it gave him all the answers he wanted, but he wasn't even sure if he was talking to black box Frank or Frank the man down a few levels who ran off to use the loo and was just screwing with him because he was bored.

He took a few more calming breaths and made a mental note to take up meditation for real. Wufei had always said it was good for you, but Trowa had never seen the point. How could he possibly get any more calm? Duo had suggested meditation might be bad for his health; that if he relaxed any more his heart might stop. Trowa hadn't been disinclined to believe him, at the time.

"Why am I here, Frank?"

"I don't know."

Well that was great. Trowa sighed and fiddled with the ends of his hair where they hung near his jaw, wondering what to do next.

"Am I a prisoner here?"

"No?"

Frank actually sounded confused. It was emotion enough that Trowa sat up and stared at the word on the screen and analysed the little question mark as if it might tell him something. It didn't, of course, but it at least made him feel as if he was doing something.

"You just push at the door and it will open."

What? Trowa turned in his chair and made a pushing motion at the door and sure enough it opened. He slumped over the back of the chair and groaned softly because none of this made any sense whatsoever, but he sure as hell wasn't going to sit there talking to Frank, which he could do anytime, supposedly, when he could go and explore.

"Have fun, Trowa Barton."

It grated, but Trowa ignored the computer and left His Room. It exited into a long white corridor and headed right, recalling the map he had seen and manoeuvring his way through the warren of corridors filled with doors just like his, each perfectly silent until finally he started passing people.

He sighed again. It was going to be impossible to fit in here. At first it was the clothing; he was in a Preventers jacket, a simple grey turtleneck and jeans. Everyone else was in the same, too-bright white dress looking thing. None of their shoes squeaked on the squeaky floor, but Trowa's Prevention issue steel capped monstrosities did. He was beginning to realise why Heero had liked those horrendous yellow sneakers back in the day.

They were all Asian. That was a problem right there, and explained what they were wearing at the same time. The problem was that he wasn't Asian, and not only was his hair too light, his skin too pale, his eyes too green and his clothing all wrong, but he was a good head taller than the tallest person he passed, and much taller than a lot of others. He could hear Frank chuckling in the back of his mind and wasn't entirely certain it was his imagination.

The corridors eventually opened up into what looked like a station and he went over to stare at the board and scratch his cheek when his hair tickled and annoyed him, having absolutely no clue what to do. So when the shuttle pulled up he got on and took a seat.

A small boy was sitting across from him, staring at him with wide chocolate brown eyes. His hair was cut in a neat bowl around his head and his dress seemed a little big for him. He'd grow into it in no time, or so Trowa was sure his mother had assured him. Hopefully the kid would also grow into its eyes, which were like little saucers in its face about ready to fall out as he stared at Trowa.

Trowa didn't respond at all, just stared at him and the kid eventually shifted uncomfortably and tucked itself in against its mother's side. Strangely, scaring an infant felt good and left Trowa feeling a little less lost when the shuttle pulled up and he got out.

Only to be completely lost again. He had no real idea where he was. A shrine maybe? There was incense and bells and people coming and going down huge steps and he hurried after them, climbing the stairs and looking back, seeing the shuttle, but also beyond it, to parklands and pools and fountains, all of it sheltered by a white ceiling. It was strange and left Trowa feeling small and insignificant. He sighed and went into the shrine.

It was quiet inside, no one speaking. There was a line of people at the front waiting to light candles, and still more waiting to collect a fortune stick. There were others simply kneeling and praying, their faces upturned or downcast, lips moving without sound in an image that finally seemed natural to Trowa. These were people after all. Human, regardless of where they lived.

He leant against a wall in the back corner and simply watched them come and go, letting the calm wash over and reorient him, needing the mask to fall back into place. After a time, someone came to stand beside him, not in prayer like so many others, but just as still and observant.

"We don't usually see people from the other sectors here."

That caught Trowa's attention and he looked down at the monk curiously. He wasn't in white; was wearing traditional orange and it finally made Trowa smile.

"I'm...new, I guess. Still pretty confused about how everything works. But my room is in Sector 96."

The man looked surprised, and then shrugged the curiosity away.

"Well, I would have assumed you were from the lower sectors. The twenties perhaps, but if this is where you want to be, who am I to argue?" The monk smiled, bowed slightly and drifted off to talk to others, or pray, or whatever monks did. Trowa watched him go and then hurried back to the shuttle.

Lower sectors. So he was high in the ship. He studied the shuttle map and got on what he hoped was the right one, taking a seat and trying to memorise the map he had seen and the numbers on it. He wondered if they gave out print outs of the shuttle system...that would be handy. He doubted it, simply because it would have made his life easier.

The shuttle went down and he found the small feeling of triumph in his gut ridiculous. He used to decimate military bases, and now he got excited about catching the bus. He didn't get off at the first few stops, or any of the others that followed. He did change at an interchange after staring at one of the maps for a very long time and deciding he had to switch there, even though he really had no idea what he was doing. The map made no sense to him whatsoever, mostly because he had no idea what Sector or Level he wanted to be on, and neither seemed to be laid out in a way that was to be understood.

Eventually he found himself on Level 2, sector 29. He had no idea what that meant, except that the people here were dressed in white suits instead of dresses, were of his height or taller and all looked of European decent. He wondered why he hadn't been housed in this sector, instead of being somewhere he stood out so much, but then maybe the idea was to make sure he didn't blend in? Which didn't make a whole lot of sense when he could move around freely and go somewhere he could blend in whenever he wanted.

Which made him wonder if he was carrying a tracking device. He sighed, having not thought about it, because he was almost sure no time had lapsed, but he wasn't convinced he hadn't been unconscious at some point they first transferred him into Frank. And who was to say the transfer itself hadn't altered him in some way? He had no way of knowing and wished the others had at least received an invitation to come on board as well. Yuy would have been able to figure out the damn computer at least, though he might have destroyed it in the process.

The annoying thing was that it was becoming increasingly clear that his only real source of concrete information was the people around him, or Frank. If he asked the people around him there was a chance they would realise he was a stranger and possibly not supposed to be there, which he didn't want, but if he talked to Frank then...Frank would know what he was talking about.

He scoped the place out. He asked mundane questions, struck up useless conversations, had entire meaningless arguments, just building up what he knew of the place and its people. They were hard to anger, too understanding. They lived by routine; get up, have breakfast, go to work, go home, spend time with the family, have dinner, play on the computer, go to bed. Their lives were simple. They knew their neighbours, in fact they seemed to know almost anyone in their sector, calling out to one another and rushing to greet and then part and greet someone else. Trowa made sure he got to know a lot of people, who greeted him anew later in the day so he could remind them who he was. Someone nice, unfamiliar to the sector, and someone they could trust.

He told them all his name was Triton, the name Nataku had given him when he came on board, and no one so much as blinked or asked where he was from. He wouldn't have known the answer anyway. Sector 96? Earth? The second star from the right? Where they hell was Frank now, anyway? Were they still parked near Duo and Heero in their small Preventer's shuttle? Unlikely.

By the end of the day he at least thought he might have some idea of how things worked. Sort of. Socially at any rate, but he took his time catching the shuttles back, partly because he was still observing people and partly because he got lost four times.

He even found a food store, and had to pretend he had left his wallet at work and make sure the old lady who ran the store felt sorry enough for him to give him bread and milk. It was enough to learn you didn't have money here, just a card that charged everything to your precious room, which had an account that maintained your salary and finances. He'd have to check the computer.

He was tired when he got to His Room, and went straight to the bathroom, going in to shower and making sure he was as squeaky clean as the rest of the world he'd been thrust into. When he checked the closet it was fully stocked with white towels and crisp clean white suits, all in his size. He took out a pair of brand new pyjama pants and put them on, a little amused. He couldn't say whether they had been there before but he doubted it. He wondered if he should try and build some sort of surveillance system to install in His Room but didn't really know where he would find an electronics store to buy the parts...people here didn't really seem to need anything like that. Didn't seem to need anything at all.

He ran the towel over his hair and went to rummage through the desk, finding it had been stocked with a smaller, portable computer. He went to sit in the middle of the room again and turned it on, noticing that it could link to his main computer, or work offline, and he set it to work offline by default and only connect when requested from an external source with his password. Not that he thought that would hold out the system if it was watching him, but it was worth a try.

He wrote down everything he could remember about the day, the names of all the people he had met, observations about each station he had passed, each interchange and where they led, each shuttle and the types of people who travelled on them. He made sure he recorded even the smallest of details; the scent of each woman's perfume, how many children they had, how they parted their hair...silly, mundane things that were the difference between him being an old friend and a mystery man to be avoided. He didn't have the luxury of being the latter.

When he was done he turned on the computer, only to find a flashing red light on the screen, labelled 'Notices'. He clicked on it and almost laughed, shaking his head and reading through the details, recording those on his laptop as well.

'Dear Mr Bloom, we are pleased to inform you your request to transfer into the military guard division has been approved. Please report to duty at 0600 in the morning at Level 1, Sector 1.

1's somehow seemed exciting. He had no idea how to get there, but a map had been attached and he downloaded it to the laptop. If he got desperate he could ask the monk.

So his first concern was taken care of; he had a job. Everyone here had a job, even children. Their job was to go to school, get 100% on everything they did, and become productive members of society, and even they seemed perfectly happy with this arrangement. Trowa found it creepy; what sort of kid liked school, seriously?

He searched through the icons and found 'Money'. He opened his account and blinked. It was set up like any online banking system, but as suspected his account number matched his room number, and his name was Triton Bloom. The bank insignia was the same one he had seen what felt like a lifetime ago, on Frank's nose; the altered Illuminati pyramid with its closed eye and sword. That didn't mean he thought they were a bank. It wasn't even what really caught his attention.

He sat back in his chair and pondered the front page for a very long time, before deciding that even in Frank-land, a hundred million dollars had to be a lot of money. Enough to do anything. He was rich, and he hadn't worked a day yet. When he went in and looked at the account details, he found the account had been opened years ago, and that a pay slip had been deposited every fortnight, gaining interest by the truckload as it all remained untouched.

So. He had money. Second concern was definitely taken care of. He wondered rather idly if he could get a monkey charged to his room, but didn't really want to find out. Monkeys would have to draw unwanted attention and he didn't want anyone looking into his affairs. Especially not when he couldn't actually account for whatever his previous job had been. He'd thought it was with Preventers, but apparently not. Preventers didn't pay this well.

The other icons were more mundane; Music, Films, Recreation, Bookings, Facilities and he even found a Help Desk and gratefully devoured the manuals he found there while he ate bread and drank milk. He was definitely getting food delivered tomorrow, and put in the order early so it would be there when he got home.

Frank, he learned, was a remarkable feat of engineering, not that he hadn't known that before, but however the hell he worked, he did it damn well. Everything worked smoothly, and everyone was so gratingly happy Trowa almost didn't know what to do with himself.

But he had two of three things achieved. Money to get things done, a job to build his cover, and lastly he just needed to figure out what the hell he was supposed to be doing here. Which unfortunately meant talking to Frank again.

It wasn't that Trowa disliked Frank, because he didn't. How could you hate an inanimate object? Unless he was talking to some guy in another sector but he didn't think so. People here just didn't do prank calls. It was another reason he thought they were a bit off in the head. It wasn't even that he distrusted Frank, even though he sure as hell did. The machine had abducted him and thrust him into God didn't even know what.

It was that Frank had a sense of humour. That was just weird. Giant disappearing colonies didn't crack funnies.

He put in the message request and stared at the blank screen for a long time, trying to decide what to say.

"Thank you, Frank."

The response was slow to come, as if Frank was having trouble pulling himself away from something else to talk to him. Trowa almost felt guilty, and wondered if that was the general idea.

"For what, Mister Barton?"

"Don't you mean Mister Bloom?"

Again the long pause, as if the machine were struggling to compute his response and form an adequate response. Trowa almost wished he chose chat. Did this thing have a face as well? That would be priceless, he would have to try it later. Maybe he looked like Treize Kushrenada. Hell, maybe it _was_ Treize. Nothing, at this point, would surprise him.

"I suppose I do."

He supposed? How did a machine suppose?

"For my new career choice being approved. I trust my new employer has my account details to continue depositing my salary?"

"Of course, that's done automatically when someone changes occupation."

Of course. Trowa rolled his eyes and was just grateful that for whatever reason Frank had made him a rich man instead of a poor one. Even if it did make him wonder what Frank thought he needed that much money for.

"I searched the computer options and the help desk. The only information I could find on Military Issues was a pamphlet for school kids considering it as a career. Do we have a large military?"

"Large enough. Military is Level 1."

"Sector 1, yes I know."

"Level 1 only has one Sector," Frank's disembodied voice informed him and Trowa felt that growing sense of unease. In his whole day's travel he never reached a 'wall'; a place that must have been the external shell of Frank. There was always something else beyond where he was, and something else again beyond that. If the military took up an entire level of Frank, it was large. Possibly the largest force in the history of Man. It was an unpleasant thought.

"Do you know why I chose to enlist?"

"I am certain I have no idea."

Certain. Trowa was glad someone was certain of something. He rolled his eyes and stroked the edge of his laptop, staring at the screen as if staring into a man's face and trying to see the secrets written there, but all that was written was their conversation in black and white.

"Why is everything white?"

"Research showed white had a calming effect on people and developed trust. Humans associate it with good health and wellness."

Fair enough, but it was in such abundance Trowa felt like a germ most of the time. Maybe it felt different once you were actually dressed in white all the time. One could hope.

He sighed, heavily, and he could almost feel Frank slipping away, focussing more on those other tasks that had seemed to have his attention from the beginning. That was fine, he only had one more question anyway.

"Frank." Was he still there? How did you know if someone walked away from the message board? He supposed he was lucky to get immediate responses at all. What if Frank stopped checking his messages?

"Yes, Triton."

"Why am I here?"

The pause. Again.

"I want you to save someone."

"Who?"

No reply.


	4. Chapter 4

4:

The bed, as beds went, was surprisingly comfortable. Trowa woke feeling well rested and hungry as hell. His stomach even growled at him, not a quiet mew but an actual growl. As his food supplies wouldn't be there until close to the end of his work day, he opted for breakfast on the run and went to his closet to get dressed. There were no options save the white suit so that was what he put on after a hurried shower and a quick brush of his hair. He was out the door long before he had to be, but he was taking into account that he would likely get lost.

He took with him only a card in his jacket breast pocket; His Room Key, so he could buy anything he felt like, now that he was rich enough to do so, and didn't that just beat all.

There were far fewer people around, most still being in bed, not needing to navigate several Levels to get to work, and knowing where to go to boot. He passed the odd night worker returning home for the day, but otherwise had the shuttles to himself. He stopped at one the interchanges he'd become familiar with the day before, Level 3 Sector 30's station 3. He liked the numbers, for obvious reasons, but it also happened to be a particularly large hub with a decent looking twenty four hour food establishment called 'On The Go'. Which he was. So he supposed it was the sort of place he should be eating.

"Good Morning, Sir! You're up early!"

"Yeah...new job, I'm a bit nervous. Not sure where to go actually..."

"Oh, I know how that is! I switched not long after my arrival and I swear, I took the wrong shuttle for a week! Where are you headed?"

"Level 1?"

"Ah..." The girl smiled and reached over the counter for of all things a shuttle map. Just what he'd spent half a day looking for yesterday. He doubted she understood the significance of the small upturning of his lips.

"If you to the shuttle straight to interchange 30 on Level 2, there is an express service that'll take you right to Level 1." She even highlighted it on the map for him. He thanked her profusely which led to her asking his name and hinting at wanting his number and he made sure she would be obliging when he came in to get breakfast each morning; that she would think him a 'local', as it were.

His egg and bacon muffin, when it came, was surprisingly good, and actually tasted freshly made rather than reheated in a microwave as he suspected it must have been. Or maybe they really did have fresh food here, he had no idea and absolutely no interest in where the food came from inside of Frank. He really just wanted to know two things, how the hell he got off the ship, and who the hell Frank wanted him to save. As he knew neither of those things, he finished his breakfast and hurried out to catch the express shuttle down to Level 2, and then the other express shuttle to Level 1.

"There are way too many shuttles," he grumbled to himself, and a man across from him winced sympathetically but didn't ask. Trowa was quietly grateful for him minding his own business.

He reached Level 1, and wasn't the only one arriving. The express from Level 2 was crowded, and people talked incessantly. It was the most life Trowa had seen inside Frank yet, and he finally felt like he was on solid ground. These people were mostly young, and spoke with crisp, clean sentences, and moved with familiar purpose. These were military personnel, trained to stand tall, march, and fire when needed. He knew where he stood with them, and knew exactly how to blend in.

He asked a girl sitting toward the back of the shuttle if she knew where he had to go, because he was new, and she was nice enough to take him through the process of getting off the shuttle and into the changerooms that immediately greeted them. He was given a uniform and had to change there and then, and it just made him smirk because there was no white on Level 1. Down here, the uniform was a uniform black. That suited him just fine.

She took him through to the next gate where everyone was scanning themselves through on a large gate using their cards and they did the same. Trowa was unsurprised when his worked flawlessly. Then she led him away from the people hurrying through the next lot of corridors and instead took him into a small office with a single clerk already punching numbers.

"Morning Davis."

The man looked up and smiled at them, far too happy to be there doing his job in Trowa's opinion, but that wasn't exactly unusual. He tried to smile back and the man took his card and scanned it, only smiling brighter.

"Ah, recruit Bloom. Excellent." He pulled a bag from his drawer and put it on the counter. "There you go. Your badges are in there, as well as a folder of information you might like the read when you get home, a map of the Level, where you've been assigned and how to get there. Thank you."

Trowa was sure he had never been so politely and thoroughly dismissed before. He shook his head, took the folder and hurried out the door, rummaging in his bag for the map because his nice guide had abandoned him as soon as they entered the office.

He had been placed in a hanger, as a pilot. He barely restrained his laughter and instead hurried through the final gates into the Level's shuttle system and got on board the first available one. It was easier to navigate than the upper levels, mostly because it just did a massive loop around the outer edge of the Level, dropping you off at whichever massive hanger you needed to go to. He found hanger 75 with ease and hurried in, scanning his ID at the entrance and then scanning his surroundings.

It looked like any military hanger, except the 'planes' were unlike any he had seen before. If Heero saw this he would want to blow Frank into oblivion and wouldn't leave until the job was done. But no one had actually seen the Hanger doors open, which left him wondering just what the point was of having several hundred thousand of these little Fighters.

"Bloom, I presume?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Excellent. Simulators are down the left side, you're in Sim 100."

The last one. That suited Trowa just fine and he hurried to his post, taking in the details as he did. There was a mechanics team roaming the hanger floor, moving from one thing to the next seemingly at random, though the clipboard in one man's hands probably had the to do list. Other than that the hanger seemed abandoned until he got to the long line of simulators.

A person sat at each, helmet covering their head, hands on the controls, oblivious to the real world. Trowa didn't like it. He could have snuck in and killed every one of them without them blinking an eye. Someone could sneak in and kill him. That didn't sit well at all.

It was a long walk to Sim 100 and when he got there he simply sat in the chair for a long time, looking around and getting a feel for it. If this was what the cockpit looked like, it was rather boring. Nothing like the chaotic mess of his Gundam. He shook his head at his feeling of nostalgia and pulled out the contents of his pack.

Introductory guide, flight manual, recruitment details...He went for the flight manual, flipped through it curiously and then had a go. He still didn't like the closed in Helmet, but he saw the necessity of it when it was what he was going to have to wear while piloting. It sealed around his head and he left Frank and the mystery of the person he had to save behind, sucked into the feeling of freedom and release he only got when flying.

He emerged at the end of the work day, stunned and awed, and just sat for a long time. Heero was going to have a heart attack, or cum in his pants. Either way, there was no denying Frank was incredible. The bay doors never opened because they didn't need to. The Fighters, or SiS-50s, simply de-molecularized on this side of the door, and re-molecularized on the other side, with shields up, making them invisible to external sensory devices. The Preventers shuttle could be thoroughly surrounded and they would never know.

Disturbing didn't begin to cover it. He took his time in the changerooms getting back into his white suit, letting his nerves come down from the high, and for calm to settle once more in his head. He took his pack with him, because he had a lot of reading to do tonight. He tried not to think much on the shuttle ride back, and when he got to His Room he busied himself by putting away the groceries and having a shower, getting back into his house pants before sitting at the desk and pulling out the manuals, and beginning the long haul.

He finished at midnight and pushed the books aside, sitting back in his chair and staring at the ceiling for a long time. Preventers needed to know about Frank. And he thought he might have a way to tell them. He just needed to build a blocking device first.

He got on the Computer and selected 'Shopping'. There was a search option and he went for circuitry first, ordering several components that sounded similar to what he wanted, making sure he ordered them all separately to make it look less suspicious. He set them for delivery at different times throughout the day tomorrow. He was nearly done when he noticed a light flashing in the corner. A closer inspection found he had a message and when he opened it he wasn't surprised to find it was from 37265.

"A friend."

So he had simply gotten distracted and taken a while to respond after all. Curious, Trowa tried to call instead of responding on the message board, but there was no answer and he went back to the board, staring at it for a long time before responding.

"Are there other Franks floating around then?"

"No. I am one of a kind."

Of that Trowa had no doubts whatsoever. Building Frank once would have been feat enough to satisfy a million mad scientists.

"I need backup. I need Yuy and Maxwell."

"Impossible."

You don't say. Trowa didn't want to admit he was asking for help either, but he was in so far over his head he felt like an ostrich, and he knew he wasn't getting out of Frank without help.

"I can't save your friend without help." Like he even knew how to save Frank's friend anyway. Who was friends with a giant killer disappearing space station?

The pauses were long again and he wondered just what Frank was doing that he needed time to maintain a very simple conversation.

"I cannot help you."

"Then I cannot help you."

There was no reply, and Trowa suspected there wasn't going to be one in the morning. He sighed and shut down the computer, going to the fridge and making himself a peanut butter sandwich, setting the lights to come on when he needed to be up in the morning, and he went to bed.

He had disturbing dreams and woke feeling not rested at all. He packed some lunch, his manuals and his card in the pack the military had given him and left early, having breakfast at the Level 3 interchange again.

"Ah, Mr Bloom!"

"Tracey," he greeted the waitress with a smile. "The muffin please?"

"Sure thing, be just a few minutes."

He took a seat by the window where he could observe people walking by and pulled out his flight manual again, learning as much about the thing he had to pilot as possible, particularly things he could do to alter it without gaining unwanted attention. A plan was starting to form and was glad he'd gone shopping last night. If Frank wouldn't help him, he would just have to help himself.

Thanking Tracey profusely for the wonderful muffin, making her blush, Trowa headed out feeling better about the day. He had purpose now and the dreams had faded into a vague sort of memory he couldn't quite recall, pushed aside. He got to work early, made sure his uniform was exactly right, put on his name badges and insignia pins and hurried down to his simulation unit at the back of the hanger.

It was several hours before anyone interrupted him, and even then it was just to ask if he wanted to see his SiS-50, which of course he did, so they took him out and he got to sit in the cockpit and they left him to it, to practise where he felt like it. He wondered if there was any other job in the entire universe that basically left you to do whatever the hell you wanted all day. Not that he minded, since his cockpit was exactly where he wanted to be. He pulled off the front panel and admired the wiring inside, learning it quietly as he tried to find a way to rig a second system inside of this one, that could run off its power but would otherwise remain separate from Frank's systems, which he was now thoroughly convinced were all connected.

He stayed late, leaving long after everyone else had retired for the night, a plan finally solid in his head. He was almost giddy, except ex-Gundam pilots didn't do giddy, when he opened his door to find a rather huge pile of boxes filling the middle of his apartment. He still went and showered first.

He turned on the Computer once his had his house pants on and put music on softly in the background; the pathetique sonata. Good thinking music, and he got to work, opening everything up first and laying it out in a circle around his chair, putting the boxes into a stacked mess in one corner to be disposed of in the morning. When he had everything laid out he split it into two groups; things he knew he needed to make specific things, and extra pieces he could use to make something else. There wasn't much left, so he went for a quick shop for some additional items he knew he wouldn't be able to steal from Level 1 or incorporate from his SiS-50 system.

Then he began to build. He launched the program he wanted on his laptop, keeping a log of the components he used and why and how he incorporated them in case he needed to alter anything later, which he ended up doing quite a few times.

It was well past three in the morning when the message light blinked on the Computer screen and he curiously activated his message board.

"Nataku might be able to help you."

"Good morning, Frank!" Was he even aware of the time? Did space ship-like stations know that there was day and night? Did they care? What use was time to something that didn't need to sleep. Or did Frank sleep? Clearly not, since he was messaging him just before four in the morning.

"Good morning, Triton."

"Nataku is the woman who helped me when I first came here."

"Nataku is not a woman."

Right. Interesting. Trowa just shrugged, fiddling with a particularly difficult connection for a few minutes, trying to think of what he needed from Frank, and more importantly what he could say that didn't give away what he was doing.

"Might?"

"We are limited in what we can do."

Trowa seriously doubted that. More likely, Frank was being observed and couldn't do anything to draw anyone's attention to what he had done. Bringing Trowa on board could go unnoticed. Once was always doable, but repeating? That was never a good idea.

"I'll keep it in mind. For now, I've found my own way to get them on board. I do need your help with it though."

"I can't help you."

Trowa wished Frank could see the way he rolled his eyes at him. The computer liked to repeat itself way too much, it was getting on his nerves. Weird space stations should not be allowed to abduct you for their own nefarious purposes and then not help you to do whatever it was they kidnapped you for.

"If you make another satellite disappear, Duo and Heero will be the closest to the incident and will respond immediately. It'll take them twenty minutes to find out the station didn't send an active signal response at its quarterly hour check in. That leaves them one hour thirty eight minutes to get to us. From there, I can help them provided I'm on duty as the scout outside the station."

The silence this time was extended. Trowa imagined Frank as a funny old man toddling around in the command tower trying to figure out what Trowa's plan was, but they both knew it was important that Frank not know what was going on, because Frank was being watched. By who was a question Trowa suspected would soon nag at him horribly. For now, it didn't matter.

"It can be arranged."

"When?"

"The day after tomorrow."

"Perfect." The sooner the better, but Trowa needed a day to install what he was building on his SiS-50, so an extra day was a huge help. He felt everything finally falling into place after the morning's unease.

"Are you ready to tell me who this friend of yours is?"

"No." The word was laced with a range of meanings. No, because he couldn't tell, no because it might distract Trowa from doing what he was doing, no because he didn't know, no because Trowa might decide not to help him at all? So many possible reasons for no.

"In that case, I have work to do." That's right Frank, you are dismissed!

He drank his entire week's order of juice in a night, but when the lights blinked to tell him it was time to get up for work, he had everything he needed designed and built and ready to go. He smirked to himself as he packed it all in his backpack and once again went to shower, annoyed that it was almost becoming routine. Maybe that was why everyone was so set on it here, because there was no other option, nothing else at all to do other than what you were supposed to do.

He stopped at the interchange for breakfast again.

"Hey Mr Bloom! Muffin?"

"And coffee please!"

"Ah, late night? New job pushing you hard?"

"Yeah, first week, you know how it is." She did, apparently, and told him so at length while she made him his muffin and coffee. He asked her to make a second to take away while he drank the first and devoured the muffin, and she made it an extra large and gave him a free promotion thermal mug. He thanked her, feeling warm inside for reasons that had little to do with coffee and more to do with seeds that bore fruit. He'd only been here three days, and he was becoming a local. Locals were never suspicious, and were always accused last.

He got to work right on time, changing into his uniform quickly, completely unsurprised when no one interrupted him at all as he went to his cockpit, climbed in and sealed himself inside. He unpacked his supplies and got to work right away, weaving his additional communication system around the original. It wasn't state of the art by any stretch of the imagination, but it would do the job provided Frank did his part.

He was on his lunch break, doing his best to take his time with his sandwich instead of scoffing it down the way he wanted because not taking the full lunch break would look suspicious. These people liked doing their jobs, true, but no one was that keen that they didn't want their lunch break. So he was taking his time, just watching people move around the hanger when another soldier sat opposite him at his table, pulling out a sandwich and picking at it but not actually eating.

Trowa looked up at the other person and only hesitated with his next bite for a second, watching her curiously. He didn't care what Frank said, that was definitely not a He, it had breasts. Though he supposed it could be transitioning, but in that case what on earth were they doing here?

"Hi."

"Hello." It seemed to have no interest whatsoever in the sandwich and Trowa wondered why it was even trying to maintain the facade. Unless it was a warning that even here they were being observed. Or they were just really, really paranoid, it was impossible to know, so he went with caution.

"I heard you need help."

"Sorry, I don't talk to shrinks."

It just stared at him and Trowa stared back, wondering if it had a sense of humour, because it didn't really seem like it. Strangely, Frank seemed to have more emotion, and Frank was the one who was supposed to be a robot or something.

"Frank is going to take in a satellite, which will bring my team to our location. I've rigged my SiS-50 to communicate with external devices and know the codes for the Preventers network. I intended originally to get them to attach the shuttle to the external of Frank and ferry them inside in my SiS, but it would be time consuming." He hesitated, watching it absorb his plan until it nodded for him to continue.

"Can you get the eye thing to open and bring them in? I mean, if they were able to actually go to the eye, rather than the eye having to find them? Does that make it easier?"

"Yes. Much easier." It put down its sandwich, abandoning the pretence of eating it, contemplating what was to be done. "It will be noticed if they leave the shuttle attached to our hull. Frank says they will meet us at exactly two fifteen tomorrow. I will open the eye at two seventeen, for only thirty seconds. If you miss the window, I cannot help you."

"They'll make the window," Trowa promised immediately, easily because he had no doubt he could get Yuy at least to drag Maxwell to where they needed to be. And then maybe they could finally start figuring out what the hell he was doing here in the first place. That would be a nice change, actually knowing what was going on.

"Alright then. I will bring them to you that evening."

"Thank you Nataku."

"You are welcome, Triton."

It left, just like that, leaving him once again alone at his table. It was a strange feeling, watching Nataku leave, wondering what it really knew of the warrior goddess, or the woman who had died who bore the same spirit. She was Asian in appearance, and walked like a soldier. Could have been a warrior for all Trowa knew. He sighed, finished his sandwich and water and got back to work. He had a timeline to work with now, at least.

He ended up staying behind for several hours. When he clocked out the clerk smiled and asked him if he had jitters about his first flight tomorrow. Trowa agreed, trying to look as sheepish as possible and was reassured that everyone felt that way the first time, which was odd since Trowa didn't recall feeling that way the first time he got in his Gundam. But perhaps he'd been too young and stupid to know he was supposed to be scared, it was hard to say.

He stopped by the supermarket on the way home and got more juice, but otherwise went straight there. He showered quickly and checked his Computer, unsurprised to find no messages. Frank couldn't risk leaving a random time somewhere to be discovered, when that time would match an event very soon.

He lay in bed for a long time, figuring out timing and what to say when things had to happen so quickly. But after a while he details were all there, concrete and flawless and he was left with nothing to think about as he waited to fall into sleep's embrace.

Strangely, he found himself thinking of old times, sitting around the campfire during the war, Wufei on the other side. And then he slept.


	5. Chapter 5

5:

His dreams were aged, old things that crept up on him unawares and haunted him into waking, leaving a stale taste in the back of his throat and an aching in his chest. Trowa shook them off into the fog of that place between waking and sleep and stumbled to the shower, coming fully aware as the cold water broke over his skin.

He was fastidious in his preparations for the day, ensuring everything he might possibly need was packed, including any tools he might need for last minute adjustments or preparations. If he was only going to get one chance, then he was just going to have to get it right the first time he tried.

He had Tracey make him two muffins, and had his coffees extra strong, and he got to work an hour before anyone else from his hanger. The clerk laughed at his punctuality and put it down, once again, to the nerves Trowa made sure were on clear display. He spent his extra hour going over his manual and running last minute simulations, though he doubted he was going to have any trouble at all piloting the SiS-50. It was a dream machine, and dream machines practically flew themselves. It was no heavyarms, that was for sure.

When his superior officer finally got in, it was a remarkably simple process of clearing the few people from their hanger for guard and getting them in and then Trowa was lost to the temptation of it all. Flying was a rare thing, Preventers having their licenses locked up tight in their vaults and only letting them out with Preventers clearance, and flying something like this, that Heero and the others hadn't even seen yet, that was a treat. Trowa ran through his start up check list with a grin plastered firmly on his face, feeling like he had the first time he had flown a Gundam. It wasn't the same, was an entirely different sort of craft altogether, but the excitement of it, the thrill...that was still there. It was nice to know he could still feel it. That while other things changed, it was still there under the surface waiting to be discovered all over again.

"You are clear, Pilot Bloom."

Why thank you, pompass jackass. You are clear? What was that? Trowa snorted softly and fired up his engines, a little let down when there was no sign they were even on; no whoosh or boom or splurt and whirr. Just a green light on the dash, just like in the simulator. It was really rather creepy, to know you were in an entirely invisible space ship. Reading about it was one thing, being in it another entirely.

"Launch," Trowa noted softly in his headpiece, then turned off his mic and set his co-ordinates for his external transfer point. He only hesitated a moment over the go button, then he was wondering why he was spinning in space, or why space was spinning, and why he had thought two muffins this morning had been a good idea.

"Nataku better be right, and that better get better the more times you do it," he grumbled to himself, taking a few minutes to just breathe, listening for any sign of the others but it was strict radio silence on guard duty. They'd recommended he take a book, of all things. Hilarious. A book! They were ridiculously confident of themselves, and not being caught, but he supposed they had good reason to be. Preventers had barely caught glimpses of Frank, and even then only because he'd let them. Their SiS fighters really were invisible; didn't exist, as far as the rest of the universe was concerned.

Trowa didn't take a book. He got to work immediately on checking over his communications system once more, took a few deep breaths and turned it on. Then he just waited. And waited some more.

After an hour, he was confident the others weren't picking up on it, and he was almost sure Frank wasn't either, or if he was he was assuming it was coming from somewhere other than one of his own fighters. Trowa put his laptop on his knees and plugged the system in, syncing them and then launching the Preventers code.

There were no signals in their area. It didn't surprise him, he hadn't been able to build a large signal with what he had, and he'd had to limit himself even then to what he thought would be unlikely to be picked up. He was confident he had succeeded, it just meant he had to rely on Frank to do his bit, and Heero and Duo to pick up on what was going on.

After the first hour of waiting, he had to admit...he wished he had brought a book. He occupied himself with thinking of what everyone had been doing since they last put the Gundam's away for good. Funny how that worked...putting something away for good more than once.

Wufei had joined the Preventers for a while, then gone for that weird ass job interview and no one had heard from him since. Had to be a damn good job, but whatever, he'd managed to convince Heero to join before bailing and where Heero had gone Duo had followed, though by all accounts the fight to get him to follow had been something worth seeing, if the fact Heero had turned up to the office one day with Duo slung unconscious over one shoulder. He wished he'd seen the look on Une's face. How Une ended up leading Preventers was still a mystery to Trowa, and one he didn't really want to look into. Some mysteries, he was of the opinion, were much better off left entirely alone. Especially psychopathic ones like Une.

Quatre...Quatre was the strange one. He'd taken over his Father's company, put most of its subsidiaries in the competent hands of his sisters, and then gone and bought Preventers, privatising what had been a public enterprise on the agreement that he send all reports to the United Council for Intetglobal Peace, which Relena was currently leading. Why Quatre had felt inclined to buy Preventers, Trowa didn't know, and it was one of those mysteries he intended to actually solve, in the future when Quatre had maybe toned down his entrepreneuring ways and could actually have a conversation longer than five minutes.

In short, Heero had mellowed, Duo had calmed, Wufei had opted out, Quatre had turned into a mad horse and Trowa had remained quiet on the sidelines watching the circus for once instead of being the guy everyone tried to throw knives at. It had been okay, but this was so much better! Granted, he would have preferred to infiltrate Frank on his own without the whole breaking down his self molecule by molecule and having to put himself back together thing but he was learning that it was just part of getting involved with Frank. You had to be willing to have a few breakdowns to get inside.

Maybe that was why everyone was so content to be inside Frank? The idea of leaving made their stomachs turn...literally.

Radio chatter came through his headset and he sat up straighter, turning his SiS-50 to scan the area and sure enough, ahead was a satellite. He looked up at the front of Frank and the eye on the pyramid was already open, the strange light flaring out and then the satellite was gone.

Was that how it had been when he went in? Obviously, but watching it was eerie. He wondered just how badly Duo had freaked out, and if Heero had actually sworn, of just stuck with grunting in annoyance. He was sure Duo would have done them all proud and occupied himself by dreaming up things Duo might have said when he disappeared.

Dude. There would definitely have been a few Dudes involved, which reminded him that he needed to raid their house and erase Duo's vintage movie collection before any other ridiculous words made it into his vocabulary. Or at least tell Heero to screen them and delete any that looked dangerous.

Dude, Frank ate Trowa! Yeah, that was likely.

Dude, Frank devoured the T-man! T-man? Really? Trowa shook his head and tried to come up with something better.

WTF! Would he say the letters or the words? There was that whole period in the 00s when kids started using the letters instead of the words, and Quatre still insisted that was the end of good English. If he'd been watching crappy old vintage movies he might use the letters. The look on Heero's face would be good...

"Can't believe Frank ate another freakin satellite! Do you reckon the panels get stuck in his teeth?"

No, Trowa didn't think he would have said that...Wait. He sat up straight and scanned the area again, and sure enough there was the blinking dot on his radar that indicated the Preventers shuttle. They were even early. Duo must have been flying, Heero would have been trying to run scans and get more information. So predictable, it made Trowa smirk.

"Not sure about the panels but if he has braces the wiring is going to be a bitch to untangle."

"Trowa!" Duo sounded stunned and thrilled at the same time. It was nice to know he cared.

"Duo. No time for explanations, just do what I say. Trust me." Yeah, right, like Yuy knew how to trust anyone, but he was just going to have to take the gamble on this one.

"Alright. What's the plan?"

"Grab your laptops and any weapons you have, put them in a bag, put yourselves in space suits and get to the eye. You have six minutes to get there. If you're late, you'll get squashed when Frank moves and die."

"Make me a pancake and I will come back and haunt you for the rest of your life!" But Duo was panting, clearly already doing what he had said and Trowa marvelled that a plan so simple could go so well, but then it had depended entirely on Duo and Heero seeing the missing satellite message and responding. They were the only two people he could think of who would have just jumped in. Quatre, after losing three men already, would have sat back and just waited to see what happened next, taking his time to plan a response. Wufei would have angsted for hours over the right thing to do. Trowa would have tried to decide which satellite would be next so he could sneak on board, because if this satellite had already disappeared he'd already missed his chance. Heero and Duo were the immediate response team, and they just happened to be the ones in the area, making his plan possible.

That didn't mean it felt any less awesome to know his plan was working. The Preventers shuttle came into view and Trowa shook his head at how fast Duo flew it in before slamming on the breaks, stopping a hundred metres from Frank's nose. The shuttle would be completely destroyed when Frank moved but that was fine, as long as Duo and Heero weren't in it. Trowa moved around them anyway, just in case they missed the window and he needed to grab them, still not sure how he would explain two extra passengers in his cockpit when he got back, but that was for thinking about later. It was an 'if' scenario and he had faith in Nataku, if only because she seemed to be working for Frank.

"Okay, Tro, we're ready to go. You sure we don't need anything else?"

"I just need you. Go."

"Aww, Tro! I didn't know you..."

"DUO!" Heero snapped and Trowa barely restrained his laughter as he saw the shuttle hatch open and Heero dragging Duo out of it. They were laden with several large bags and Heero launched them directly at the eye, using strength as much as possible before he relied on the propellant packs they each held. They likely only had just enough to make the jump and Heero was cautious enough to use it only at the last minute.

Trowa checked their timing and worried his lower lip nervously, because they were cutting it close. They'd taken time packing, but they'd had enough to spare, and it was worth it. They wouldn't have packed anything useless.

The clock was counting down, just a minute to spare when they each landed on the pyramid's closed eye. Trowa wished he had a camera to snap a picture, but there wasn't one.

"This better work Barton." Heero didn't sound overly impressed but there was relief in his voice as well. He was likely just glad to be doing something; to have found Frank again, and Trowa, and to be able to move forward with the mission. It would have been killing him sitting in the shuttle with no clues.

"It will. Just...take deep breaths and try not to move too much."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Duo's frown was audible in his voice and Trowa just shrugged apologetically, not caring that they couldn't see it because there wasn't really anything else he could do at the moment. They would find out soon enough how sucky going inside Frank was.

The eye moved and they stumbled around on it, avoiding the sliding edges and landing instead on the glass front, facing out to space. Trowa imagined it was an amazing view, but then they were engulfed in light for several seconds.

And then they were gone, and seconds later the satellite reappeared, its lights blinking, still functioning perfectly. Trowa shook his head, wondering what they were going with the satellites. It was good that he was able to cover bringing Heero and Duo on board by timing it with the expulsion of the satellite, but it also made him realise he had made a grave error.

He'd forgotten what his mission was. Sure, Frank had a mission for him, but he was supposed to be figuring out what Frank was up to with the satellites, and that should have taken priority over Frank's strange missing person. Though really, he thought he could be forgiven, considering the circumstances. Still, he spent the rest of his afternoon flying the area, examining the satellite and trying to determine what uses Frank could have had for it.

Supposedly it would explode this afternoon...or maybe it wouldn't. Not all the satellites had exploded, right? He would have to ask Yuy.

He made sure he was last to go back in, not just because he was putting off the re-molecularization for as long as possible but because the nervous rookie had gotten over his nerves and couldn't get enough of being out there now! Everyone chuckled when he got back in and he was sent home with a pat on the back and a well done which he felt in the core of his being. He had done well; damn well.

He still didn't hurry back. He took his time about it, bought extra food at the supermarket on the way home and made sure he greeted his friends. He did everything he'd done every other day, and when he passed Nataku at one of the interchanges he pretended not to know her and went to shake hands with the builder he'd run into once from Sector 80 on Level 4.

That didn't keep his heart from pounding as he opened his door and stepped in to find Heero at his desk and Duo pacing in circles.

"What the fuck did you do to us, that was the weirdest shit I've ever been through!" Duo froze in the middle of the room, one arm across his stomach and the other pointing accusingly. Trowa just smiled and came in, dumping his back, setting the door to lock and admiring the haul they had managed to bring in. It had looked like a lot from the outside...it really looked like a lot now.

"They call it molecularization. It's the only way in or out."

"How did you contact us?" Heero asked, looking genuinely curious. Trowa dug out his SiS manual and dumped it on the desk.

"I'm a Pilot. It was my maiden flight today. I rigged a second communication system into my cockpit and had Frank help my lure you in."

They were both silent, Duo moving to look over Heero's shoulder as he flipped through the manual, and finally Heero grunted, leaning back in the chair and Duo scratched his head. They both turned to look at him then.

"Frank helped you?" Duo blinked, eyes a little wide.

"Well, he wants my help. I made him understand he couldn't get it without helping me first."

"Frank wants your help?" His eyes were definitely getting wider.

"Yes. He asked for it, on my message board."

"Frank talks to you...on your message board?"

This was going to take a while. Trowa went to the fridge and got out the juice, bread and peanut butter, putting it on the desk for the others to make food while he rummaged through the closet. He only had enough clothes for one, which just wouldn't do.

"Look, I need a shower. While I do that, go shopping. You need to buy clothes...here." He turned on the computer, aware of Duo hopping excitedly from one foot to the other, clearly wanting to have a go. He launched the shopping application and left it at that.

"Clothes, food...leave anything else until we've talked."

"Roger..." But Duo was already shopping, Heero throwing in advice from behind him and Trowa left them to it, going into the bathroom and taking his five minutes of blessed quiet alone, washing his hair and getting rid of the scent of metal and sweat that stuck to him after being in the flight suit all day. The helmet was necessary and exceptional, but it was a sweat box and it flattened his hair!

He put on his house pants and wandered back out, grabbing a t-shirt from the closet at the last minute, frowning because he hadn't had to bother when it had just been him, which made him wonder where they were all going to sleep. Three would be very uncomfortable in that bed...

But when he came out, Duo and Heero were sitting together on a large sleeping bag, still shopping, looking like they were at a sleepover. Trowa just stood silent, and waited. When Duo turned to look at him, Trowa realised he had a teddy in his lap. So much for them bringing nothing unessential.

"He's essential!" Duo argued before Trowa could even say anything.

"He keeps him wrapped in the bag so you can't grab one without grabbing the other," Heero grumbled and it was clearly an argument they had had before. Trowa still wasn't sure why they had bothered to bring a sleeping bag, but he wasn't about to argue when it meant he still got his bed to himself.

"This is pretty cool system," Duo noted softly, but he'd given up on shopping and was focussed on Trowa now.

"You have no idea." Trowa sighed and sat on the edge of the bed, running a hand through his hair so it would dry in the right position.

"Barton. Just explain." So he did. He told them what had happened since he disappeared from the Preventers shuttle. He told them about Nataku and Frank, about his job and the work he'd done so far laying a recognisable local personality, about his bank account and the fact it had been set up years ago, supposedly, about bringing them on board and the military...everything he could think of. Duo's eyes were wide, Heero's were narrowed, Trowa just felt tired.

"It really is a colony. How did they build an entire colony without anyone noticing?" Duo shook his head, and clearly didn't expect an answer. No one knew, that was the point. Frank was still as much a mystery as ever, even from the inside.

"So, Frank...or whoever he is, wants you to save someone."

"Apparently. He hasn't been too forthcoming on that front. I wanted to get you in here as fast as possible, so I've just been focussing on that, and on making sure no one noticed I was here."

"Hence becoming a local."

"Exactly."

"So, we have two objectives," Heero noted softly. "The first is still to gather intel on the craft, and whether it's a danger, and secondly to figure out who this person is you're supposed to save and whether we do in fact save them or not."

"That was my thinking on the matter," Trowa agreed. "Now that there are three of us...If Heero is based permanently in My Room, that leaved Duo and I free to infiltrate and do the leg work."

"Makes sense," Heero agreed.

"Your Room?" Duo arched a brow and Trowa just shrugged. It was His Room. It had his name on it. "Dude, you have a room inside Frank." Clearly. Neither Trowa nor Heero wasted time pointing out that that was entirely obvious and didn't need to be pointed out.

"The Computer is great, but if you can hack it, find a way to get to Frank..."

"I'll find a way," Heero agreed immediately. He'd likely already been thinking much the same thing.

"And I'll work on finding information on the colony," Duo agreed, already following their line of thought. "Leaving Tro free to figure out the mystery of saving Frank's random person." They all nodded, having clear ideas of what had to be done. Duo was the hardest, because he didn't know the colony yet, but he would have an advantage Trowa didn't have, in that Trowa could introduce him to a lot of things, and then he would do much as Trowa had done; blend in and hope he didn't look like a fool in the dark.

Heero was already unpacking their laptops and Duo reached for the bag of weapons they had brought so Trowa logged in to his message board and tried to think of what to say. Now that Heero and Duo were here it felt like someone was invading his privacy and he wasn't sure he liked the idea of having a conversation with Frank while they were there. While he was trying to think he attempted a call to Frank but no one answered. Not that he had expected them to.

"Thank you Frank."

"I've helped you. Now you have to help me."

Duo jerked at the voice and came to sit beside Trowa on the sleeping bag, taking apart a pulse rifle while he stared at the screen with wide eyes, watching the conversation appear there as if by magic.

"I need more information. Who is my target?"

"Find my room. That's all I can tell you."

"Because people can find you?"

"Because that's all I can tell you."

It was hard to tell what he really meant but Trowa was sure he was being monitored and was worried someone might see their conversation and figure out what Frank was up to. The less information Frank gave out the better.

"Frank?"

"Yes, Mr Maxwell?"

"Oh wow, Frank knows my name! Heero, he knows who I am!" Duo was turning around to grin at Heero and Trowa just slumped forward, letting his head fall into one hand and he laughed softly.

"I know everything, Mr Maxwell."

Unfortunately, Trowa was sure that was true. It was disturbing, but it might also have something to do with what Frank was doing with the satellites. He shared a knowing look with Heero, reassured by the nod Heero gave him. Heero would look into it.

He didn't bother trying to continue his conversation with Frank, despite the fact it seemed Frank was for once not preoccupied with other things. He logged off the message board and went to lie on the bed instead. Duo sprawled out on the sleeping bag, fiddling with the Computer still, running through the options and just learning how it all worked much as Trowa had done when he first got there. Heero watched him, learning just by watching.

"I have to work tomorrow, but I have the day off after that. I'll take Duo as far as my last interchange, show him how the shuttle system works, and we can meet back there when I finish."

"Sounds good," Duo agreed, but he was distracted by the music player. Heero left him to it, lying on his side where he could see Trowa, pinning him with that all too familiar glare. Trowa wondered if his eyes got sore, or if he'd maybe had plastic surgery to pull his eyebrows that low permanently. It was the same look Heero had given him when he first woke up after self destructing, demanding silently to know why he was still there. Self destructing was, after all, supposed to be the end. Waking up clearly made you a failure at it.

"Dying still hurt?"

He saw the recognition in Heero's eyes and they both chuckled, Heero reaching down to rub his stomach with a look of wry understanding.

"Molecularization. I think I prefer the old way of just opening a damn door."

"You don't say," Trowa grinned at him, amused because it was a little known fact that even Heero Yuy could feel pain and would go a little out of his way to avoid it where possible. "Clever though. Explains why Preventers never got a shot of the doors opening. They don't actually open; they're each individual Molecularization pads. You can read about it in my military manual."

"Why the eye then?"

"It's more advanced. The pads are set to only recognise the SiS fighters. It makes it impossible for anything else to use the bays. The eye is able to break down the molecular structure of anything, but can only be activated from somewhere in here."

"You don't know where?"

"No idea. I'm guessing the controls are with Frank."

"And your rescue mission is apparently in Frank's room."

They were quiet for a long time, wondering if perhaps their two objectives weren't closer linked than they realised. Trowa sighed and rolled onto his side, looking over Heero's shoulder at Duo where he sat still entranced by the computer and would likely remain til the early hours of the morning. Duo had never needed much sleep to be on top of his game. Trowa doubted much had changed. Heero and Trowa, on the other hand, took sleep when they could, always aware they might not get it later and always determined to be at their peak performance, regardless of whether they needed to be or not.

"Where is Frank's room?"

"I've only got one clue."

Heero just raised a brow at him expectantly and Trowa got up to grab the manual for the computer, looking up the section for making phone calls.

"Usually, when you make a call, you call the number associated with the room. My room number has ten numbers."

"That's a lot of rooms."

"I haven't quite figured it out yet, but I think there's a lot more than that." He sighed and moved so he was hanging off the side of the bed, pointing to the images in the manual upside down, so Heero could see it the right way up. Sectors are horizontal sections of the colony, Levels are vertical. There are five traversable Levels and a hundred Sectors. The first number in the phone system indicates the level, the next two the sector, and from there...the room number."

"So each Sector has a possible 9999999 rooms?" Heero looked incredulous, as one might when they realised just how many people could live inside of Frank. And that was when you thought only of one person occupying each room. If you thought of a family in even half those rooms, the number was staggering.

"I don't think it's quite that bad. Far as I can tell, I live in Chinatown. Rooms are smaller, cheaper and easier to get..."

"And easier to hide," Heero agreed, nodding as he perused the manual.

"Dude, you live in Chinatown?" Duo was snickering.

"When I first went out, every person I saw was Asian. I thought I was never going to be able to blend in. Then I found out most Europeans lived on Level 3 and I started to feel better." Duo was laughing outright now and Trowa and Heero shared a long suffering look.

"So Frank's going out of his way to hide the fact you're here," Heero mused. "What's your clue to where Frank is? You can't just go checking every room."

"I know. The problem is, when I call Frank I call 37265."

"That's not ten digits," Heero pointed out stoically.

"No, but it spells Frank on the numerical keypad," Duo supplied immediately and Trowa just smiled at him. Trust Duo to know immediately. "You really dialled Frank, and what...hoped for a miracle?"

"I thought it was funny. I didn't expect it to work," Trowa mumbled defensively. "It's all I've got. But if you assume other Sectors have larger rooms, and hence less available phone slots..."

"Theoretically you could have Room 0037265."

"So what...we're looking for the rich end of town?" Duo snorted, finally turning the computer off and joining the conversation, lying down to sprawl half on top of Heero. That Heero allowed it spoke volumes but Trowa didn't comment.

"Would help if we knew who had funded or made Frank," Heero mused. "If the colony is as racially segregated as you say, it would narrow down where the money is."

Trowa just shrugged because he had no idea who the mastermind behind Frank had been. Someone rich. Quatre might have been able to narrow down the candidates, but he wasn't here and the fact was Quatre's name would have been high on the list. Few people could match bank accounts with a Winner.

"So tomorrow, Trowa goes to work and finds out what he can from the contacts he's made. Duo goes to the Sector's Trowa hasn't made it to, and I try and hack the Computer." Heero nodded and Duo hummed softly in agreement. Trowa didn't bother replying, just flopped back into the centre of the bed and stared at the ceiling.

The lights were turned off, but Duo and Heero sat with a torch, reading the manuals Trowa had collected into the early hours of the morning. At some point Trowa fell into a restless sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

6:

"Morning Mister Bloom..." Tracey paused and stared at him with his friend and Trowa just smiled wryly. Duo had that effect on women. "Two muffins and coffees please?" He didn't bother waiting for a response, taking a booth toward the front near a window, but away from the counter where they wouldn't be overheard. Duo just followed suit, as he had done since they left His Room that morning.

"I've been coming here every morning. The muffins are good."

"And it had nothing to do with the three's," Duo rolled his eyes but Trowa knew he agreed it was a good central point given that the colony had five known levels. Besides, if Duo had been the one kidnapped by Frank then he could have picked the location, and Trowa would just bet it was Level 2, Sector 22 or some such thing. But Trowa had been the one chosen and so he got to choose the meeting point. He totally could have stuck a 'so there' on the end of the thought, but didn't think it was necessary. Given that he was just thinking to himself. If he'd been speaking to Duo, it might have been necessary.

"So this is our meeting place?" Trowa just nodded and waited for Tracey to bring them their breakfast, thanking her with a happy smile and watching as she flirted with Duo and he happily made himself known, building his own cover as flawlessly as ever. He was too happy until she was gone and then he smirked at him, sipping his coffee and pulling out the copy of the shuttle map.

"You'll be stuck down in Level 1 all day, so where haven't you been and we can compare notes tonight?"

Trowa nodded, looking down at the map thoughtfully and tapping Level 5.

"I haven't touched Level 5 at all. Makes sense it might be where the richies are." Duo was already nodding, following his line of thought. "I haven't looked at the lower Sector end of Level 4 either. Level 2 is a lost cause it's as cramped as Chinatown, the people seem like they were picked simply because they wouldn't make any attempt to go to Level 1. They're middle class, completely content to be just as they are."

Duo nodded, eyes skimming the map, making decisions Trowa didn't need to know about. They would share what they knew at the end of the day. They finished their breakfast in quiet conversation about nothing, laughing at random spots for Tracey's benefit before ordering a coffee each to go.

"Alright, back here at 6."

"Righto," Duo agreed, waved and skipped off into the crowd, disappearing in a few heartbeats. Trowa shook his head and went to catch the shuttle.

The clerk grinned at him when he was on time, making some crack about being worn out from the excitement of the day before and Trowa just agreed with a sheepish grin of his own, going down to his hanger and straight to the simulation room. When his superior came to check on him, Trowa made up a story about stupid rookie mistakes he had made and wanted to practise so he got them right next time. The man congratulated him on his dedication, and his successful flight yesterday, and Trowa thanked him with overly enthusiastic words and rolled his eyes when the man went on his way, chest out a little further than it had been before.

He spent his day interacting more with the others in his hanger, not enough that they might think it was okay to come to his simulator and sit down for a heart to heart, but enough that they felt comfortable enough to joke with him about being the rookie in the team, and enough that they answered the occasional stupid question he had. He didn't find out much, the military hadn't been mobilized for long, and had nothing much to do besides play scout, though they ran fight scenarios in the simulators for some unforseen situation that could arise in the future. To all intents and purposes they seemed like a peacekeeping force, but whether they would remain so or not depended on too many external circumstances. And the fact that their weaponry was far more advanced than what Preventers had made them a threat that couldn't be ignored, regardless of their intentions.

He went back to the interchange feeling like the day had been largely a waste of time, and wondering what the process was for taking a sick day or twenty. Just in case, he went to the clerk's office and picked up a few more pamphlets on infrastructure and personnel requirements before leaving, getting tired of playing dumb for the clerk. The man made awful jokes!

"You look bored," Duo noted as he slid into the seat beside Trowa on the shuttle, smirking at the surprised look on Trowa's face. Or maybe at the girl a few seats away, Trowa couldn't really be sure but he was annoyed enough to take most things personally for the moment. It meant he could scowl with purpose.

"What are you doing on Level 2?"

"Oh, you'd be amazed where I've been," Duo yawned and he actually did seem tired. And dirty. It was a shame everyone wore white, it meant Duo stood out in his near black, grease and filth stained clothing. Trowa looked him up and down and arched a curious brow. Duo just shrugged and looked self defensive.

"I'll let you shower first when we get home."

"Nah, you're the one who's been working, I was just having fun." Fun, in Duo's world, could be anything from playing marbles with a few kids in a park to blowing up anything that offended him with fart bombs. By the look of him, he'd been doing both.

"Fine, I get first shower," Trowa smirked at Duo's small protest, but he couldn't argue because he'd offered. He just hadn't expected Trowa to take the offer, when Heero wouldn't have. It was nice to remind Duo that other people existed besides Heero Yuy.

"Smart ass."

Heero had carpeted the floor in cables. Trowa blinked once at it, decided it was a Yuy thing to do, and gingerly stepped over it all to slip into the bathroom. He took his five minutes of quiet time and made sure he was thoroughly clean before putting on his house pants and t-shirt, grateful to be out of the suit again. He smirked when he came out and let Duo into the bathroom.

"He offer you first shower?"

"Something like that," Trowa agreed, sounding rather chipper about the whole thing.

"Idiot," Heero shook his head, but the smile on his face was nothing short of fond. Trowa shook his head and went to sit on his bed, figuring that was about the only safe place right now. "How'd you go with the Computer?"

"It's hard," Heero admitted softly. "I've accessed a lot of things, but I get the feeling it's only a tiny piece of what's really there."

Which was what Trowa had suspected. Frank was huge, it wasn't surprising his brain was too. Not that he was about to call Frank an egg-head to his face, or at least to the message board, but that wasn't he point. The point was they were so royally screwed he barely knew where to start figuring out a way out of the mess they were in.

"I got nothing we didn't know already. Did grab a few things about work to read. Going to try and take a few sick days or something...if they even have those here." These people were serious workaholics, it was like living in a colony of Yuys, which frankly had never been Trowa's idea of heaven, or even a holiday location for that matter.

They sat quietly, Heero still working on his computer, Trowa checking his messages. He didn't have any, so he went to turn off the Computer before Heero held up a hand.

"It's not listening to us. I disabled the monitoring programs in it, it's monitoring my laptops speaker and microphone at the moment, which I broke years ago."

That made Trowa chuckle, well able to think of ways Heero might have broken his laptop speakers, though there was no physical sign of Heero having stabbed the poor laptop. Outside appearances could be deceiving though. Duo stepped out, hair a wet mess down his back and Heero just grunted, putting the laptop aside and catching the comb Duo tossed at him. Trowa was very careful not to make any visible sign of how amused he was to see Heero take up the job of untangling the knots from Duo's hair while Duo sat happily between his knees. Nope, he wasn't amused at all. Not even the tiniest bit. On the outside.

Inside he was laughing hysterically until Duo sighed and started recounting his finds.

"Level 5 is definitely where the richies live. They don't have rooms so much as houses, at least twenty times the size of Your Room. They aren't numbered, but I figured Heero could narrow down the choices on that map thingy on the Computer, and a little closer investigating could lead to us finding the right room."

"I think the Computer will tell us actually..." Trowa mused, recalling the way it had tracked after him as he wandered the halls. He shook his head and motioned for Duo to continue.

"There's a small business hub at Sector 33 and Sector 77, and a large complex at Sector 50, but I couldn't tell what it was for. All the business was kept pretty hush hush and the few people I tried talking to were way too interested in who I was and what I was doing there.

"What were you doing there?" Trowa was genuinely curious what cover he had thought of.

"Oh, I ran into a courier in a pinch on Level 2, somewhere around Sector 65 and he was running late, had gotten caught up talking to this girl and wasn't going to make both his deliveries, one of which happened to be..."

"On Level 1," Heero finished for him, nodding in understanding. Trowa just sighed, because it was never that easy for him. He always had to come up with an elaborate plan, or ask someone for help. Like Frank. Or Nataku. He never just walked into someone with relationship trouble who happened to need to go the same place as me.

"So you got the thing delivered?"

"Right on time," Duo agreed with a genuinely pleased grin. "Was for a Mr Charles Brun. Some telecommunications guy."

"Telecommunications..." Trowa looked to Heero who was nodding to himself, coming to the same conclusion about satellites and Level 5. Whatever was going on inside Frank, that was the Level they had to start paying attention to, all the while also keeping an eye on Level 1 and what the military was going. They had that covered, thanks to Frank.

"So tomorrow we go on an excursion to Level 5." Trowa nodded, pleased they at least had something to do. He was getting tired of not knowing what the next move was.

"We need a way to keep in contact with Heero," Duo noted softly. "I wanted to phone a friend like thirty times today, it was annoying as hell."

"Was that before or after you played marbles with five year olds?"

"Wha? I did not play freakin marbles!" Duo glared at Trowa, but when he saw Trowa laughing at him, he crossed his arms over his chest and sulked.

"The stuff we ordered last night arrived," Heero noted softly. I put the spare clothes in the closet in order of size, Trowa's on the top shelf, mine on the bottom, Duo's in the middle. I made us some ear pieces too and connected them to a private network on my laptop so we can keep in contact tomorrow. Trowa won't be able to wear it in Level 1 though, there's a magnetic field between it and Level 2."

That Trowa hadn't known and he grunted in response as if someone had punched him. He hoped it wasn't strong enough to cause cancer or make his dick shrivel up and die. That would seriously suck and he was hoping Frank cared enough about his health to have told him if that was the case.

"Okay, so sleep and then we explore in the morning. I'm starving...anyone else want noodles?" Duo got up when Heero was done braiding his hair for him and rummaged in the cupboard, waving the noodle packets and Heero and Trowa both nodded in agreement. Heero went back to work on his laptop and Trowa lay back on his bed, just staring at the ceiling and thinking things through. Duo talked about where he'd been on each Level and what he'd observed, concreting some of Trowa's ideas about different places and destroying other ideas he'd had. He'd covered a lot of ground, far more than Trowa had dared attempt.

He handed out their noodles when they were cooked and Trowa ate them quickly, tossing the empty packet into the waste bin, amused that it was empty because it meant Heero had taken out the trash, which was just...so domestic. But he was tired and needed to be in peak condition tomorrow so he slid under the blankets and turned toward the corner, ignoring Heero and Duo's quiet conversation and the hum of the laptops, letting them lull him into sleep instead.

His dreams were harsh, taunting things that left him feeling empty and confused on waking. Duo was sitting up, eating cereal and looking at him curiously from the kitchenette bench. Trowa just fobbed him off with a thrust of his middle finger and went to shower, getting clean and dressed with quick efficiency and by the time he was eating a muesli bar and Heero had moved once again to the laptop on the desk, he had forgotten whatever his dreams were about and lost the feeling of being alone.

"Let's go," Trowa patted Heero on the shoulder on his way out, closing the door and wondering if it was possible to slam the door. If he made the hand movement hard enough would it make a bang sound just to make him feel better? How did people have tiffs if they couldn't slam doors on the way out? Stomp extra loudly to make your point? He amused himself with the idea all the way to the shuttle station.

"So, bad dreams?"

It was so far removed from his pondering on romantic arguments that Trowa grunted a little and then turned to frown at Duo. He didn't like sleeping with other people for just this reason. Not that he was sleeping with Duo, that would have just been weird, but he was sleeping in the same room and sometimes that was much the same thing.

"I don't know really."

"Dude, that was a bad dream. I saw the look on your face when you woke up."

And didn't that just make him feel so much better. Not. Trowa tried his best at a Yuy glare, but Duo was so accustomed or something it had absolutely no effect and he deflated, slumping in his seat a little

"I don't remember it," he admitted softly. "Started when I got here. I dunno, it's like I should be thinking of something, or like this whole place is reminding me of something but I can't quite figure it out. I wake up feeling..." He shrugged, not sure what he woke up feeling. Lonely? Tired? Wanton? Lost? Alone? All of things and yet none of them, it was a strange thing. Quatre would have known, maybe, but he wasn't here.

"Too bad Quat's not here," Duo noted softly, and Trowa just sighed.

"Hey...have you heard from Wufei?"

That made Duo sit up, looking a little stumped by the subject change but mostly just curious.

"Nah, not for...years I reckon. He went for that job, said if he got it he would have to start right away, I just figure he got the job? You know how Fei is."

"Yeah, I guess." But it was odd for him to stay quiet this long. He usually at least sent a generic Christmas card or something.

"Are you still carrying that little torch?" Duo asked slyly, sliding closer to elbow Trowa in the ribs. Trowa just glared because they both knew it hadn't been a little torch, at one point it had been significantly more than that, and he'd thought he was close to wearing Wufei down until that damned ob interview came up and he'd gotten so secretive about it all. And then he was gone, and Trowa had thought he must have pushed too hard and Wufei had fled, thrown himself into his new job.

Everyone thought that. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair in annoyance at the whole situation, but mostly at his own inability to accept that as the end of it. And Duo was looking smug and Trowa couldn't even punch him for it.

They headed for the other side of Level 4 and caught the shuttle to Sector 33 of Level 5, each carrying a brief case with random fake documents Heero had made up for them. Trowa had no idea where he got the paper or the printer and didn't care, the case was just to make them look like they had a purpose for being there. Each had a back compartment to hold a gun and for the first time in days Trowa finally felt a little more secure. Wandering around trying to build a cover had made him uncomfortable without the knowledge that if anyone got suspicious he could blow their brains out faster than they could sneeze.

Duo pulled out the map and looked around before heading out and Trowa followed at his side, looking as calm and casual as he knew how, talking softly under his breath about a business deal his company was working on. Duo made non-committal responses but mostly paid attention to doors they passed, counting them in his head and following the directions Heero was giving them in their ear pieces. He was following them on the map on the Computer, marking off places they passed and making his own set of notes.

"The next one on the right is a possibility," Heero noted softly and they moved in. Duo knocked, a maid answered and he tried to sell her life insurance. She politely declined and they went on their way, Trowa having scoped out the number on the ID card inside the door.

"24690."

"We're off by more than a thousand!" Duo whined softly and they went back to catch the shuttle, passing five stops before trying again.

And again, and again and again until Duo looked about ready to strangle whoever answered the door instead of sell them insurance, and Trowa was so tired of walking he was ready to sit down in the middle of the corridor and make tea from thin air.

Duo knocked and a man answered. Trowa didn't hear what he said though, staring at the number inside the door. 37264. So close! Duo's voice became agitated and when Trowa looked up he realised something was wrong. The man was reaching for Duo's briefcase, temper rising, cheeks flushed. Trowa stepped in and placated the man, using tricks he would have used in the circus on a lion, getting to the crux of the situation.

They weren't supposed to be here.

"I'm so sorry Sir, please...we understand you're disappointed in us, but we truly meant no offence. We've never caught the Level 1 shuttle, and we lost track of the station count...isn't this Sector thirty?"

"No!" But the soft words and the soothing rhythm of Trowa's hands as they weaved in front of him calmed him down and the man sighed heavily, leaning heavily against the door, clearly still agitated by the interruption but reaching for the shuttle map Duo had pulled out to look at desperately.

"Here. You need to go back to the shuttle and get off at this station. Though honestly, everyone here has life insurance. You should just go tell your boss it's a lost cause. Try Level 4."

"Thank you so much, Sir! Honestly, it's a bit of a last ditch effort on our boss's part. Almost everyone we talked to has the default life insurance and wasn't interested in anything extra and we haven't had much luck getting people to switch. He thought if he could get a few wealthy backers he could save the business, but it doesn't look likely." Duo shrugged, hands opening in a 'what can you do' action.

"Well, that's usually the way of things here. We keep telling people to stop trying to strike it rich, be content with what they have."

"So true, Sir! Thanks so much for your help again, and we're real sorry we interrupted your day. We meant no offence, truly!"

Unfortunately, it meant they had to leave, so they retreated, not daring to say a word until they were safely back on a shuttle, and even then not until they returned to Level 2. Then Duo let out a sigh Trowa thought would break his nose and kicked the seats across from them angrily.

"Damnit, we were so fucking close!"

"It was next door, actually," Trowa noted softly and ignored the gaping look of incredulity Duo cast him. Apparently he hadn't known just how close they were. He made that pretty clear by kicking the seat a few more times and then complaining that his foot hurt. Someone should probably have explained to him that flesh colliding with metal hurt.

He swore all the way back to Chinatown and Trowa grabbed his elbow and lead him into the temple instead of heading for home. Duo didn't argue and just followed his lead, grinning as Trowa headed for the Monk ad struck up a conversation, asking how his week had been and exchanging pleasantries. He introduced Duo and wasted a good hour wandering the temple, going through the end of day motions everyone else in Chinatown went through before leaving.

"What the hell was that about?"

"If we're being watched, we need to make sure they just figured we gave up and went home, not that we fled with our tail between our legs."

"Point," Duo agreed with a heavy sigh, taking the warren-like turns back to His Room with practised ease. It made Trowa smile, wondering just how many warrens Duo had lived in over the years, and what the strange internal map he followed looked like. He bet it looked like chilli con carne; runny, messy and completely senseless to a sane man.

"Baby," Duo chided when they got inside. "Tell me you weren't holding your breath from the moment we left Level 5!"

Heero looked entirely unimpressed by the comment and Duo just grinned as he flopped down on Trowa's bed. Trowa glared but couldn't be bothered arguing, sitting down on the sleeping bag instead and looking up at the computer. It was on the Video ship view, the camera fixed on a door.

"That's it then?"

"That's it," Heero agreed softly, turning in his chair to stare at it as well. Himself, Trowa felt rather stupid staring at a live view of a door and after a few minutes coughed softly and turned to look at them instead.

"I can call in sick tomorrow..."

"Or we can just go in tonight," Duo interrupted. "No one here seems to do anything at night!" It seemed to genuinely offend him.

"I'm not sure the shuttles even run at night?"

"A few do," Heero mused, but shook his head because not the ones that would help them get where they needed to go.

"As long as we can get to Sector 50 on Level 4, we can get there." Trowa stared at Duo and wondered if there was a reason he'd gotten so dirty after all. He sighed and shrugged, because the sooner the better in his opinion and Heero was typing so furiously Trowa could only suppose he agreed.

"There's a way. It's a bit roundabout, but we can get there," Heero agreed, printing out the map he had found and Trowa blinked as a slow under the Computer spat out the documents. So that was how he did it.

"Where does the paper come from?"

Duo and Heero were both staring at him like he'd grown a second head.

"Does it matter?" Duo shook his head, clearly of the opinion Trowa was a bit nuts, but that was fine because Trowa had been convinced Duo was very nuts for quite some time. Nuts people were entirely allowed to think other people were nuts.

"I made some dye and did up some extra shirts and house pants in black," Heero noted softly. "Thought they might be useful."

"What, no green singlets?"

Heero looked ready to break his face so Trowa made no further comment. He didn't need to because Duo was snickering enough for the both of them. Instead he went to the bathroom and grabbed the clothes Heero was talking about from where he'd hung them to dry and started packing them in the backpack. Duo got the hint and collected what weapons he thought might be useful, handing them over as well.

"What if there are people in there?"

"Isn't that what we're hoping for?" Duo asked. "I mean, we want to find your mystery person and save them, right?"

"I meant other people," Trowa ground out. "What if this person is being held prisoner. Or...I don't know. What if there are people there who want to stop us."

"We shoot them," Heero pointed out, clearly thinking that was obvious and Trowa stared stoically at him. "What, we don't shoot them? How else are we getting out then?"

"That's my point exactly!" Trowa threw up his hands, wondering how anyone worked with Heero and Duo anymore before he remembered no one did. They were partnered together when they had to work outside the realm of solo, and occasionally pulled Quatre or himself into whatever madness they'd been assigned. But no one else ever had to put up with them.

"We could shoot them," Duo agreed reasonably. "It would just arouse suspicion, especially if the person we're trying to save is there and we rescue them and they're missing while the room's full of a bunch of dead bodies."

"Exactly. And then we have no plan to get out of Frank."

It was a dilemma and they say in uncomfortable silence trying to figure it out.

"We need more information," they all said at the same time, sighed and each sat on the sleeping bag, staring up at the Computer screen while Trowa launched the message board.

"Frank."

"Hello, Triton."

"How come Frank is calling you that?" Duo was frowning.

"That's my name here..." Trowa responded at the same time Frank said "That's his name here." Trowa just sighed, wondering if it meant he was somehow less than human when he was in sync with a talking colony.

"We found Your Room."

"Well done."

"Is the person we are supposed to find there?"

"No."

"Then what the hell did we have to find it for!" Trowa could feel his temper rising in time with Duo and Heero's.

"You need to get inside the room. It has access to where the person I need you to save is." For once it seemed they had Frank's undivided attention. His responses were fast and clear, as if they were having a real conversation. Trowa thought of it as progress.

"We're going tonight, Frank. We're going to bring the person back here. We need to know what you want us to do. We're ready to move now."

This time there was a long pause and Trowa thought of his imaginary old man Frank bumbling around in his room trying to find a plan. He looked like he had put on weight in Trowa's imagination.

"Alright. Nataku will go with you."

That was an annoyance Trowa hadn't expected but he ignored the glare Yuy was giving him and just nodded in agreement, because it was doable. If Frank wanted Nataku there he had a reason for it.

"Nataku will explain some things on the way. Triton..." They waited, but Frank was distracted again and nothing followed.

"Frank?"

"Cover your tracks, Trowa."

Nothing followed. Heero was still glaring, Trowa felt stumped and Duo was laughing.

"Aww, Frank's worried about you!"

That was what had Trowa confused. Could a computer feel worry or concern? Sometimes Frank seemed so human, and other times so inhuman it was hard to keep track but the fact that he had been brought here to save someone; the desire to help another. That too was human. There were so many things he wanted to ask, but he had once again been dismissed.

The door opened and Heero was on his feet with a gun to the person's head in seconds.

"Don't!" Trowa stopped his finger on the trigged, reaching out to put his hand in front of the barrel. Heero was still glaring but Trowa nodded to the intruder and it nodded back.

"Barton."

"Nataku."


	7. Chapter 7

7:

"She doesn't look like Gundam 05. I had been wondering how we were supposed to take a Gundam with us," Duo mused behind them. It was enough to make Heero drop his hand, though he didn't drop the gun.

"She's the one who brought us here."

"Technically, supposedly, she's not a she. Or so Frank says," Trowa noted, amused by the frowns he got in response, but curious about the lack of emotion on Nataku's face. The door lock clicked into place and Nataku slipped around Heero and went to stand in the middle of the room in front of the Computer, staring at the conversation they had been having with Frank, and in particular the bit about her helping them. It didn't look like news to her, which wasn't surprising since she didn't tend to make social visits to his room. Trowa was still interested in why she was supposed to come along with them.

She tossed a backpack on Trowa's bed and he went to examine it, finding several drugs inside and frowning.

"Is the target ill?"

"They will be," she replied cryptically, looking around the mess they had made of the room while Trowa went through the rest of the things in the bad. Clothes, shoes, a first aid kit...nothing unusual, really. He sighed and left it all on the bed, wondering where he was going to sleep if he was going to be giving up his bed to a stranger. But that didn't matter for now.

Heero and Duo were grabbing their packs and Trowa grabbed his, moving to get his shoes on. Nataku just continued to watch them stoically and didn't say anything.

"You don't think it's weird her name is Nataku?" Duo hissed as he strapped a knife to his forearm and tugged his sleeve down over it. Trowa just glared because of course he thought it was weird, but it wasn't exactly an uncommon name since the war. Every little fan girl of Asian descent had grown up, had kids and named them Nataku. Wufei had been equal parts angry and embarrassed about it for years.

"It's weird," Heero agreed, but he was heading for the door and no one argued. Better to get moving and get this over with.

It was early enough that people were still heading home, covering their travel through the strange route Heero had found would be active all night until finally they got to Sector 50 and Heero took them into a cafe to wait for the stragglers to head home. Duo ordered coffee for everyone but paused when he was giving it out.

"If she's not a she, or human or whatever...does she drink coffee?"

Nataku solved the problem by taking the cup and putting it in front of her, raising a brow at him and Duo silently sat in the booth beside Heero. It didn't mean Nataku made any move to actually drink the coffee.

"What can we expect on the other side of the door?" Heero was looking at the stranger with that same wartime glare. She seemed no more impressed by it than the rest of them.

"There will be two men on guard, and a lift."

"A lift? There's a Level 6?"

"Yes," Nataku replied easily, no surprise at all in her voice. Trowa wondered just what she knew, and what she wasn't telling, or what Frank had told her she could and could not say. Maybe, like Frank, she knew everything. Maybe she wasn't human because she was a computer! A walking, talking computer, just like Frank! His imagination was clearly bored and running wild, so he reigned it in.

"We can gas the guards," Heero noted softly.

"We don't take the lift," Nataku interjected. There is an access panel in the wall of the space above the lift. If we follow it up we'll come out in the wiring behind one of the rear access doors to Level 6."

"Handy," Duo whispered, leaning in as if being told an exciting story, which wasn't that far from the truth.

"What is Level 6?"

Everyone stared at Trowa and he wondered that the others hadn't thought to ask. It made sense to him; if all the rich people lived and worked on Level 5, what did you need Level 6 for. Unless, of course, it was where Frank really lived.

"It's the nervous system," Nataku replied easily and Trowa felt his limbs turn to jelly. Colonies should not have nervous systems. He shook his head and pushed his coffee aside.

"Frank's nervous system?" Duo asked, just to clarify, as if it really needed clarification. The colony's nervous system took up an entire Level. It was ridiculously huge!

"Yes."

"And the person we have to save is there?"

"Yes. I can't tell you any more. You will understand when we get there."

"Is that what Frank said?" Duo asked sarcastically.

"Yes." No sarcasm. They all sighed and Heero motioned it was time to go.

It was strange, wandering the station while its corridors and recreation areas were abandoned. Duo led them down through the back of the shuttle system, along one of the shuttle tracks to where a panel looked loose and Heero wedged it far enough open for them all to slip through, pulling it closed again behind them. Trowa shook his head as he rummaged through his bag for his black clothing because he should have known Duo had gotten dirty crawling inside of walls.

"You're a damn termite."

"Shut up," Duo grumbled. "I found a way." The 'so there' was so clear Trowa felt it slap him in the face. Only that was the cap Heero smacked at him and he quickly pushed his hair out of his face and pulled it down on his head.

They turned to stare at Nataku, amused when she had also changed into a skin tight black costume, but this had fine silver lines in it that looked suspiciously like circuitry.

"Okay, that's weird," Duo pointed out, but no one said anything more, letting Duo take the lead and following him through the cramped spaces, dragging their bags with them, leaving their nice white clothes behind. Trowa didn't bother pointing out that it was going to be difficult to drag a sick person back through this. They would just have to deal with it when they got to it. Besides, he wasn't ready to think about where he was going to sleep yet. The shower cubicle wasn't that big...

They came to a service ladder and Duo went first. Heero brought up there rear, clearly not trusting Nataku, not that Duo or Trowa said anything and Nataku seemed oblivious to the lack of trust. Trowa wasn't sure she knew what trust was to be concerned about it.

They came out in a similar shuttle tunnel and the number on the wall read 50. Well done Duo. Trowa nodded at him and they waited for Heero to come out before moving on. Duo led them through to the station mouth but waited in the shadows.

It was Nataku who stepped forward and handed them each a bracelet. Trowa hesitated only briefly before putting it on and the others followed his lead. As soon as they were all locked into place Nataku pressed a button on the upper arm of her suit and the circuitry lines began to glow a faint blue.

"You are now invisible to the system."

They all glared at her.

"If you'd told us you could do that from the start, we could have come straight here!" Duo ground out, pulling on his braid to keep from punching her.

"I needed to know you had an escape route for the way back," Nataku told him sternly. "It is a one way trip for me."

Whatever that was supposed to mean. Heero clearly didn't care, he pushed past her and headed for the corridor Duo and Trowa had been in earlier that day and Trowa followed, amused by the dirty looks Duo kept giving Nataku. It was always annoying when someone stole your thunder.

They found the door without any trouble, though Trowa gave the next door neighbour's door the finger on his way past. Heero pulled a gas mask from his pack and Trowa took the hint and got his on as well. He'd barely snapped the air into place when Nataku opened the door and Heero tossed in the gas canisters before Nataku sealed the door again.

"Do you have a universal key?" Trowa asked her quietly.

"Yes."

"Can I get one?"

"No."

He sighed and shrugged at the amused look he got from Duo, because at least he had tried, but then Nataku was opening the door again and they slipped inside, sealing it behind them. The men were in front of the Computer, slumped and unconscious. Nataku reached out and the Computer turned off, leaving them in the dark until Duo pulled out a torch.

Heero found the lift, toward the back of the large unit, in the adjoining room. Trowa felt a twinge of jealousy because he didn't have an adjoining room. His bathroom could barely be called a closet.

Duo stood on Heero's shoulders and got the hatch on the lift roof open, swinging himself up and already looking for the hatch while Heero boosted the others up and Trowa reached down to haul Heero up last. By then Duo and Nataku had already located the hatch they needed and Duo was cutting it open with a laser. Trowa waited impatiently, something about the fiery light aggravating him, or maybe it was the way Heero just stood there, staring at nothing as if he expected someone to materialize out of thin air and attack them. Then Trowa realised that wasn't a far stretch considering the whole Molecularization issue and he sharpened his own senses. He still thought it was unlikely in a lift shaft though.

Duo got the vent open and let Nataku go first. Heero scowled about it but they had no idea where they were going and she did, so he shut up and followed closely on her heels. Trowa brought up the rear, and thought Heero was in the wrong place, because the view he had of Duo's ass was making him uncomfortable.

The shaft was a warren but Nataku never hesitated in her path. Heero had the sense to mark the wall every time they turned so they could find their way back and Trowa was once again left to wonder how they were supposed to get someone else through here. They'd better be able to walk, otherwise he and Frank were having words.

They came out by a wall covered in connections and had to duck to avoid disrupting the explosion of circuitry exploding from the wall and spreading to the following wall, or the ceiling...all over. The nervous system, or one miniscule part of it. The sheer size of the monster had Trowa quiet and his imagination subdued. The others seemed similarly indisposed.

It was Heero who moved forward again, laying down gas cylinders as he moved forward, making sure they didn't come across anyone. He needn't have bothered; they didn't come across anyone for a good hour of wading through the warren-like mass. Nataku eventually slipped in ahead of Heero and made her way to a panel in a nearby wall, stroking it with fingers that suddenly seemed human. Caressing.

Trowa watched her curiously but had no more time to think on it as Duo moved forward and slowly melted a small hole through the wall for Heero to put a tube through and they all waited as the gas worked its magic on the other side.

It took Duo another half hour to cut a hole in the wall. Nataku remained perfectly still the entire time, and Trowa stood observing the look on her face. She was pretty, really, in a way only Asian women could be pretty. Even if she wasn't a woman as Frank said, she appeared female, all slender grace. But there was something off about her eyes. They were too dark, and the pupils didn't dilate or adjust to light. There wasn't a mark on her skin, which wasn't uncommon for colony brats never exposed to real sunlight, but to have not even a scar was strange. There was an awkwardness to her, like she wasn't quite sure who she was, or what she was supposed to be doing. Or as if she wasn't doing what she was supposed to be doing, it was hard to say. She was just odd, and to Trowa odd was interesting. He was honest enough with himself to know at least some of his interest was merely her name.

Duo pushed open the panel he'd cut and Heero went in. He was gone several minutes before he appeared to give them the all clear.

There were three men inside, unconscious. Besides them there was a large capsule in the middle of the room. Trowa looked at the floor and realised it was a mass of thread-fine cabling all of it leading to the capsule.

It was a dark thing, metallic and rounded with no obvious point of entry and his stomach sank when he saw it because it was just large enough, he thought, to fit a person inside. Heero was staring at Nataku and the look on his face clearly showed he'd come to the same conclusion.

"This is it?"

"Yes... I was told to warn you, that this would be disturbing."

"You think?" Duo scowled, pointing at the capsule. "We're supposed to get a body out of that thing? How? If I start cutting into it I'm just as likely to cut the poor sod open as rescue him!"

Trowa didn't bother pointing out that Frank hadn't said they needed to recover the person in one piece. He doubted anyone would listen and Heero might punch him, which would hurt, and he wasn't in a pain sort of mood. He was bored, more than anything. And a bit stumped as to what he was doing on the mysterious sixth level of a secret colony after crawling through its wiring for hours with a woman who wasn't female so he could rescue a person who was apparently being kept prisoner in a capsule.

"This is the Origen," Nataku said and that got their attention.

"Like on the shuttle," Duo recalled immediately and Heero grunted. She even pronounced it with an e instead of the i and a hard g sound. She now had Trowa's undivided attention.

"It's the brain of the colony. The colony can run itself perfectly, as a machine, but it couldn't make adequate decision on behalf of its inhabitants because it is not human. So the designers built a system that allowed the computer's artificial mind to connect to a human body. By accessing this system, the computer obtains the Origen's understanding of problems and is able to make humane decisions."

"That's why Frank has a sense of humour," Trowa mumbled, stunned, and his gaze was drawn back to the capsule. "You're saying...the person in there, is Frank?"

"No, the person is the Origen. Frank is the System."

"But if we take the Origen, won't that harm Frank?" Trust Heero to think of the questions that really matter. They all waited for the answer.

"Not if you replace the Origen." Nataku lifted her hair to reveal a large plug in the back of her neck. She slowly removed her clothes, revealing similar plugs all over her body. Trowa gaped and wondered idly if she had any notion of the fact she was naked and surrounded by young men.

"What are you?" Heero asked softly, and there was a gun pointed at her head.

"I am a replacement built by Frank. He had an engineer build me, then arranged for the man to work on a satellite that was brought in for realignment. He ensured the man was still on the station when it was released, and it had it destroyed to hide my existence."

"The satellite Quatre's men were on," Duo hissed and Trowa thanked him silently for stating the obvious.

"But what are you?" Heero insisted again.

"I am a system; a robot with human organs. The perfect imitation of the Origen. My brain and organs are all clones of the Origen's; heart, brain, lungs."

"So we take out the Origen and what...plug you in?" Duo was clearly struggling.

"Yes."

"How long do we have to make the transfer?" Trust Heero. Trowa was still busy staring at the capsule.

"Less than five minutes. There are two hundred plugs, the only way to achieve the transfer is for one person to remove each plug from the Origen while another immediately picks it up and puts it in me. Each individual plug can be removed for no more than five seconds, and the entire process must be complete in five."

"We can do that," Trowa looked at Heero, knowing their hands were going to be sturdier than Duo's at this but Nataku was shaking her head.

"Frank said you would not be able to do it," Nataku noted softly and now they all looked at her in confusion.

"Fine, Duo and Heero do it," Trowa agreed, not willing to argue and Nataku seemed neither pleased nor disappointed by him giving in. It was just the way it was supposed to go down, or something.

Heero got antsy and let off another gas round and Duo rolled his eyes, not bothering to point out that another round could kill the poor idiots that had been working here. Not that Trowa really thought he would mind killing people who had been keeping a person in that capsule for however long Frank had been functioning.

"Nataku...the Origen. Did they agree to this?" Were they really a prisoner? The men in the room didn't look like guards. More like scientists monitoring a precious experiment. It gave Trowa the creeps.

"Yes. But they did not know what they were agreeing to."

"So they're in there against their will?" That was wrong on so many levels and the scowl on Heero's face summed up Trowa's feelings on the matter.

"Frank hadn't been turned on long before his connection to consciousness made him aware of the wrongness of what was being done. That was when he began planning my construction, but it took him some time to complete my design and run his simulations, and the first three models of me were unsuccessful. It is very difficult to mix cybernetics with human tissue."

"No shit," Duo grumbled, but he looked ready to kill something or start cutting the capsule open just to have something to do.

"But if we put you in there, isn't that the same thing?" Trowa asked quietly, genuinely interested in what Nataku thought of all this.

"I have a human heart, and a human mind...but I am not human Triton Bloom. I am a machine, with one objective; to replace the Origen. Taking its place will not trap me. It will complete me. Frank and I will become one."

"Great. Frank built himself a lover!" Duo laughed but it was a dark thing with no mirth to it that left them all feeling cold inside.

"They'll know we've taken the Origen. How soon?" Heero again.

"The change of personnel in the morning."

"Will they come after us? Even with a replacement."

"Yes. They will not trust me, nor know where I have come from. They will not know what I am. The Origen is special. They understand things."

Trowa understood things too. Like the fact this was the weirdest crap he'd ever sat through and he wanted to go home, asap. Since the only way to do that was apparently steal the Origen and find a way to get out of Frank, he looked at Heero hoping they could get started. Heero seemed to agree, but he was hesitating over something and kept stealing glances at Trowa.

"You said it would be disturbing."

"It's okay. We can open the capsule and you will understand. Opening the capsule does not affect our time limit; it starts only when you remove the first plug."

"Then what the hell are we standing around here for?" Duo asked, exasperated.

"Do you see a way to open it?" Trowa asked curiously, and Duo scowled even more darkly in response.

"No."

Nataku stepped up to the capsule, running her hand down the side, caressing it in much the same way she had the wall coming into the chamber. A shiver ran down Trowa's spine at the touch. Then she lay her hand on the top and opened her mouth. Beeping came out, followed by bleeps and whirs and Trowa gaped.

"Fuck me, she really is a computer," Duo hissed and Trowa just nodded.

The lid of the capsule de-molecularized and Nataku stepped back. The look of horror on Heero's face was the only warning Trowa got before he looked into the capsule.

"Wufei!" He lunged forward and Heero barely caught him in time, holding him back but Trowa struggled despite the futility of it, straining to reach him. Duo stumbled forward, reaching as if he were going to touch but holding back, too absorbed in what he was seeing to think of turning to help Heero and Heero stumbled backward, dragging Trowa with him and wrestling them both to the ground, pinning Trowa down.

"Let me up!"

"Calm down!"

"Let me the fuck up, Heero!"

"Think, Trowa! We're going to get him out, but you have to calm down!"

Wufei was the Origen. The job interview, the lack of communication...he'd been gone so long, trapped here that long! Trowa couldn't decide if he wanted to destroy the entire colony or go hide in His Room and cry. The indecision was enough to help him calm down. That and the fact Heero slapped him hard across the face.

"Okay...I'm okay..." He wasn't. Heero let him up, but kept a close eye on him, clearly unsure what he was going to do next. Trowa himself wasn't sure but he took a hesitant step forward and peered inside the capsule.

Wufei was completely submerged in a green coloured gelatine-like substance. All of the points Nataku had were on Wufei, and from each came a wire that disappeared into the walls of the capsule, running off to connect to the nervous system. His head was the worst, a row of the pins disappearing into points around it's circumference like a crown of needles and more running along the centre of his scalp. He couldn't see the plug on the back of his neck but he recalled the one on Nataku and whimpered softly.

"Fuck..." Duo had always had a way with words. "Heero!"

Heero was there immediately and Nataku stepped up on his other side.

"Will us disturbing the green stuff do any harm?"

"None at all. It just sustains the body." She was already moving to sit on the edge of the capsule and Duo moved in, stepping into the green near Wufei's head, ready to take the plugs and put them in Nataku. Heero moved in as well, standing knee deep in the stuff, scanning Wufei once more, adding up the plugs and trying to think of the best way to go about it all. Trowa could see his line of thinking clearly and hesitantly moved in, dipping his hand in the green muck, surprised by how dense it was.

"Fuck." It didn't begin to cover it.

Duo nodded that he was ready, Nataku agreed and Heero hauled Wufei up, reaching behind to find the plug in the back of his neck and pulled it out. The thing was huge and Trowa saw the colour drain from Duo's face, but he reached forward and snatched it up, sliding it immediately into Nataku's neck, turning it a little at the end to lock it into place. Then Heero was passing him the next and it began in earnest. Trowa timed them just to keep his thoughts busy, watching as Heero pulled a long metal pin from each vertebrae and Duo deposited it in the new host. They were making good time and while Duo was shaking a little his hands were steady, picking up the pins Heero dropped and sliding them home without pause. Trowa was impressed, he couldn't have done it better himself, especially not now.

The pins came out of Wufei's arms, and then his legs. He winced at the size of the pin that was pulled from Wufei's chest, realising it had been in his heart and then Heero was pulling the pins from his head, kneeling in the green gunk with Wufei sprawled in his lap, pulling them out as straight and fast as possible while Nataku bowed and shifted her head for Duo to get the pins in.

"Twenty seconds," Trowa murmured softly, but Duo was already sliding the final pin home and Nataku smiled, nodding as he locked it in.

Duo climbed out of the capsule, the green gel sliding off his limbs to the floor around him but nothing as bad as when Heero climbed out. He'd been covered up to his chest and most of it remained caked to him though there was a significant puddle of gloop at his feet. He reached in and hauled Wufei out of the capsule. Nataku waved at her bag and Duo raced to it, pulling out a blanket and helping Heero wrap Wufei in it.

Trowa was finally able to move, lunging forward and taking Wufei from him, stumbling back away from the capsule as if it might reach out and suck Wufei back into it. Instead, Nataku climbed in and lay down, reaching up a hand and closing her eyes, a look of concentration on her face and the lid re-Molecularized, sealing her in.

Trowa was too absorbed in Wufei to care, staring at his slack face and fact he seemed far too light and thin, sustained on the bare minimum for years. His hair was longer, he realised, tangled around his neck and shoulders, wrapped around one bicep. It was cute. He took in all these little details before Heero came and checked he was breathing, shaking his head and swearing under his breath and then he was leading the way out, back through the wall and into the warren and Trowa followed blindly, letting Duo bring up the rear.

When they got to the lift shaft Trowa remembered all the times he had hoped their target would be conscious to take them back through everything and swallowed the laughter that wanted to break free because he only let Heero take Wufei for a few seconds to pass him down into Heero's arms before he got down there himself and took him back again. Had Wufei been conscious in good health, Trowa doubted he would have let him go anyway. As it was he cradled his body through it, back to the shuttle tunnels and they changed clothes hurriedly, stuffing the black back in their packs and Trowa looked gratefully at Duo who had carried his without even needing to be asked. Duo just scowled, annoyed that Trowa would have thought he might do anything different.

They stuck to dark hallways as much as possible and kept the caps on, low over their faces just in case. They moved much faster than they had when they were breaking in, fleeing with cargo they had never suspected they would care for so much and Trowa wasn't sure he remembered to breathe until they got off the shuttle at Chinatown station and they ran home, rushing through the corridors, Duo cleaning the path behind them.

"In the shower," Heero directed as soon as they were in His Room and Trowa obeyed, taking Wufei in and climbing in fully clothed, unwrapping the blanket and finally seeing the blood leaking out of the ports in Wufei's body. It was the last straw and Trowa slid down the wall, gathering Wufei into his lap, wrapping his arms around him and the tears were hot and fierce as they tracked down his cheeks but he hid them in Wufei's shoulder where he buried his face.

Duo came in and carefully went about washing Wufei clean of the green sludge, washing his hair and disinfecting each of the ports. When he was clean, Duo was the one to turn off the taps and wrap them both in towels, and Heero came in to take Wufei, leaving Duo with Trowa.

Arms wrapped around him and Trowa fell into the embrace, struggling to process a single emotion, each as overwhelming as the next.

"So. Guess that means you're still carrying that torch."

It was the fresh air he needed and Trowa laughed, cried and clung, letting it all out because he wasn't going to have the luxury for a long time. It took him a long time to realise Duo was crying too, and they stayed in the shower and cried together.


	8. Chapter 8

\8:

Trowa took his time getting out of the wet clothes and into the dry, comfortable house clothes. Heero was sitting on the sleeping bag and Duo went to him immediately, leaving Trowa to do as he pleased. He went to the bed and carefully climbed in. Heero had bound Wufei in bandages so he looked rather like a mummy but Trowa wasn't laughing, knowing the bandages hid holes in Wufei's body. Two hundred of them, each slowly leaking and they couldn't remove the plugs until they got him home, which could be a while. Wufei didn't look to be in pain, didn't really look like anything, completely dead to the world, chest barely rising and falling.

Trowa lay down beside him, grateful when Duo or Heero or someone turned off the lights. He slid closer in the dark, reaching out a shaking hand to lie on Wufei's chest, just feeling it rise and fall, letting it sink in that he was there, and they got him out and it would be okay now, because he wouldn't stop until it was. He would get Wufei home, and this time he wasn't taking no for an answer or letting Wufei go to any stupid job interviews. He shouldn't have let him go last time.

The rounded bump of the plug hole over Wufei's heart made him shudder, a similar sized lump forming in his own throat, catching the words he couldn't say in front of Duo and Heero thankfully because Wufei wouldn't hear them anyway. But he was sorry anyway, that he'd given up so easily, that he hadn't followed it up, had given Wufei space and tried to be understanding. He was sorry he hadn't been demanding, hadn't forced their issues the way Quatre had always hinted he should. He'd let the courtship die, let Wufei run away from the possibilities he kept flirting with, and look where it had landed them.

It had been the last thing he expected when the capsule opened and he shuddered thinking of Nataku there now, but he thought it a very small price to pay to have Wufei there in his bed, breathing. The lengths Frank had gone to for Wufei to be released were incredible and Trowa couldn't thank him enough, though really the only person who had freed Wufei was Wufei himself. His conscience had guided Frank's actions, and his resolve. His mind and heart and all the things Trowa loved so much and it slowly sank in why he'd felt so comfortable inside Frank. Why everyone was so content, and why everything seemed to work just the way it should.

It was all Wufei. He wondered if Nataku would do half as well at guiding Frank. Only time would tell and he didn't care to spend any more time inside Frank than he had to.

He fell asleep with one over Wufei's heart, the other tangled in his hair. He didn't dream.

The lights came up and he jerked awake, cursing softly when he kicked Wufei, but the other man was just as unconscious as when Heero had laid him there. Heero was already awake, Duo had clearly been asleep but sat up, yawning as he looked blearily at the bed and sighed when he saw Wufei was still out of it.

"I don't think he'll wake for a while. I've been thinking about how Frank connects to the Origen, and I'm pretty sure his brain's been awake the whole time. He'll sleep for a while."

It made Trowa shudder and for once he didn't race for the shower, lingering in bed, reaching out to tuck stray strands of inky hair off Wufei's face, still amused at how long it had gotten. It would annoy Wufei incessantly, but Trowa knew if he implied he liked it Wufei wouldn't cut it, and he intended to do more than imply.

"You have to go to work. Act sick. Call in sick tomorrow," Heero ordered and Trowa just nodded in agreement. He took his suit when Duo brought it over and slowly got changed, stealing glances at Wufei the whole time. He wanted to stay, just in case he woke up, but Heero was right. They had to get him out of here, and to do that he had to go to work.

"What a night..." Duo went into the bathroom and washed his face, coming back out and getting changed quickly. Trowa quirked a brow at him and Duo just shrugged.

"Fei's gonna need clothes and lots of easy to eat food, and liquids and we need more bandages, and stuff. Besides, I need to keep my cover too. We'll have breakfast at the interchange as usual."

As usual. As if they'd been doing it forever. It felt like forever. Trowa looked back at the bed, but forced himself not to go back over. Why? To stroke his hair one more time? To kiss his cheek? Wufei would be none the wiser, and Heero would be. There was no point other than it would make him feel better and Trowa didn't particularly feel like feeling better, so he left and Duo followed him out.

They walked in silence and Trowa kept an eye out for any sign of their passage last night but Duo had done a good job of covering their tracks. There was much more life in Chinatown for this hour of the morning and Duo shared a knowing look with him but they didn't say anything, just got on the shuttle.

"Morning Mister Bloom! Muffins and coffee?"

"Yes please!" Duo grinned at Tracey and Trowa just nodded, forcing a smile before going to the back of the cafe, to a nice dark corner booth and sliding in. He didn't want to watch the world, and thought it best if they stayed low. Duo seemed to agree, sliding in across from him and watching him quietly.

"You okay?"

"No."

"Yeah...stupid question. Sorry." He smiled up at Tracey when she brought their order over and she smiled back, walking away with a soft blush but otherwise leaving them to it. Duo sighed and sipped the coffee but pushed the muffin away and Trowa followed suit.

"I honestly thought he just freaked when you wouldn't stop asking him out and ran..."

"So did I," Trowa mumbled, not wanting to talk about it. He'd let Wufei down, and he had all day to try and think of ways to make it up to him, already knowing none of them were ever going to be enough.

"Do you think Heero's right, and he was awake the whole time? That he knew what was going on?"

Trowa was quiet for a long time, thinking it over, but like Heero he came to the same conclusion and the sick look on his face said it all. Duo slumped.

"Out of all the people in the whole universe, Frank lured me in." Why not Heero, who was a much easier target? Or Duo? Why not Une or Sally? Why not someone entirely unconnected to Wufei, someone on the station maybe? Frank could have recruited anyone, and manipulated them into doing what he wanted in the same way he had manipulated the man who built Nataku. But he hadn't asked just anyone, he'd asked Trowa.

"Because Wufei wanted you," Duo sighed, and he gave up on trying to drink his coffee and just watched Trowa. It was clear he was trying to think of something to say, but his silence said it all. There was nothing to be said.

Wufei hadn't run away; he'd wanted to say yes, to give it a go with Trowa, but they'd taken him before he got the chance, and now...now who knew what he thought. They all just had to wait until he woke up, and that could be a while.

"I gotta go, or I'll be late." He grabbed his coffee but left the muffin and Duo watched him go with a pained smile before turning to call Tracey over. Trowa heard him ask if he could have a box to take the muffins away, and left it at that.

He felt numb through the day and spent the time sitting in his cockpit. Everyone put it down to him being over his nerves and wanting to get out again until he came out after lunch sniffling and looking red-faced, and then they didn't suspect he'd been crying at all, but assumed he was coming down with something. His boss sent him home early and told him not to come in tomorrow. If he was still sick the day after he could just leave a message on the clerk's message board. Trowa was so genuinely grateful he nearly cried again. It only made his ruse look all the more genuine.

He was on the shuttle when the first rumour reached him. Two business men were whispering about it in hushed tones. Something had been stolen from Level 5, no one knew what it was, it was all being kept very hush hush but it was the first crime on the colony ever. They were taking it very seriously. Word was they were going to do a room by room search of the entire station. Trowa doubted that; it could take years, but if they could reduce the possibilities down they might search particular sectors.

He tried not to hurry back to His Room, but he still sighed with relief when the door closed behind him.

"You're home early."

"They told me to go home, gave me tomorrow off and said if I needed more time to just leave them a note on the message board."

"Handy," Heero noted softly but Trowa was already moving past him, to the bed, sitting on the edge and just staring. He hadn't moved since this morning, clearly hadn't woken and Heero didn't bother to say so when it was so obvious. The drugs Nataku had left were laid out on the end of the bed though and there was a drip in Wufei's arm and Trowa sighed, grateful that at least Heero had his head on straight.

"How many people can you fit inside one of the Fighters?"

"I was really pushing it when I thought about fitting three. And they're coded to your DNA to go through the Molecularization..."

Heero sighed and Trowa had to agree. The SiS wasn't a way out and Trowa felt too messed up in the head to think of a better way. Luckily, Heero was still working on the problem, clearly having re-prioritized.

"We need to lure in Quatre."

That got Trowa's attention and he sat up, blinking at Heero and trying to follow his line of thought. It made sense; Quatre travelled with a team, always, which meant a bigger shuttle. But Quatre had been burned by the satellites once before so he was unlikely to fall for it, especially since Trowa and now Heero and Duo had disappeared after investigating similar occurrences. He would be monitoring them though...

"When the next satellite comes in, if we can get near it we could leave a transmitter on it, have it transmit a signal to him."

Heero jerked and then grinned because they both knew it would work. They just had to figure out when the next satellite was coming in, which shouldn't be hard if Trowa kept an eye on the military scouting schedule.

"If Quatre brings a ship to us, we just have to find a way to get Frank to get us out using the eye," Heero nodded, and really that was the crux of the matter. They had no idea if Frank would help them or not. Trowa looked at the Computer and sighed. They couldn't even track down Nataku and ask her to help now.

"I heard people talking about something being stolen on the shuttle. It's probably not a good idea to bring attention to ourselves by calling Frank's Room."

"Your message history has been deleted," Heero observed. "I checked earlier. It's like it never happened."

"Frank covered my tracks," Trowa mused, recalling Frank's final warning and shaking his head. If they were on their own, they could very well be stuck there until Wufei was functional, they mastered the science of Molecularization, Heero, Duo and Wufei all enlisted, and they rigged their SiS-50 fighters to accept DNA that wasn't in Frank's system...they could be stuck for several lifetimes. They didn't have that long, and were going to have to find a way to make Frank help them, but letting things die down a little was a good start.

The door opened and Duo came in, blinking at Trowa and then smiling wanly.

"They let you go home early...nice of them." He staggered in and dumped his shopping in the middle of the floor and Heero attacked it immediately. "I was worried about buying bandages, thought that might be a dead giveaway so I stole them from a shelter down in Level 2."

"Good thinking," Heero agreed and he piled the new clothes in the closet beside Trowa's then restocked the first aid kit while Duo put the extra food away in the fridge. Heero told Duo their thoughts on a way to get out of Frank and Duo made his own quiet observations, agreeing it was the better than the few ideas he had come up with. Trowa let their soft talk wash over him, turning instead to watch Wufei, absorbed in the rise and fall of his chest with each breath and the slight frown on his face that hinted Wufei was in pain. Which meant he was even the tiniest bit conscious. Trowa reached out and stroked the faint line between his brows, smiling faintly, torn between wanting him to get the rest he needed and wanting him to wake up right the hell now and yell at them all for worrying.

"What do you think they're doing with the satellites?" Duo asked curiously, grabbing a muesli bar from the kitchen and handing the rest around. Trowa took it, but sat it in his lap, not calm enough to eat yet. Soon, but not yet.

"Hard to say...They're just relay satellites. It's like stealing messenger pigeons that aren't carrying any messages, and then releasing them back into the wild," Trowa mused, actually finding it funny more than anything. There were a few reasons he might do that, like maybe he wanted to feed it or keep it as a pet for a while, but he doubted Frank wanted a pet satellite.

"And they only destroyed that one to tie up loose ends with Nataku," Heero agreed, but he was thinking. He had that strange strained look to his eyes that always made Trowa nervous his eyes might pop out of his head and then they'd have to watch him put them back in again. Duo would never let any of them forget it, every time they encountered anything remotely gross he would compare it to that time Heero's eyes popped out of his head...

"What if they were putting in a relay." Duo shifted excitedly, grabbing his laptop and launching the image of the satellite network. "All the satellites they've intercepted have been interchanges; points of contact where several lines of satellite communication meet. Kind of like the shuttle interchanges here inside Frank."

"Right," Heero agreed softly, staring hard at the picture as if it might suddenly reveal their plan.

"Well, if you rigged all the interchanges to not only continue relaying the messages being sent to their original destination, but also to send a copy somewhere else, say...to Frank, then..."

"You'd know everything," Trowa sat up, remembering Frank's boast and wondering why they hadn't realised it before. That was how Frank maintained himself and kept the colony out of sight, by always knowing where no one else was going to be.

"The Preventers have been updating the satellite relay system because so much of it was damaged in the wars. Frank must be having to update to keep up with the times."

"Or there's a particular piece of information he wants but can't get any other way," Duo smirked, shrugging as Heero and Trowa both glared at him for ruining their nice, simple explanation for all things. "Spanner in the works just sucks all round, don't it?"

Eloquent, Duo. Really eloquent. Trowa sighed and opened his damn muesli bar, chewing without much interest as he examined the satellite network image. Duo had already marked the effected satellites in red, the destroyed one in green.

"There doesn't seem to be a pattern to it." At least not one he could see and he looked to Duo but he shook his head as well.

"I can try what I've hacked so far and see if I can't find anything?"

"Just be careful not to leave evidence you've hacked anything. We don't want them tracing it back here." Wouldn't that just be fun to explain? Hello senior individuals in charge of Frank, oh you've noticed all this illegal cabling Heero has littered my floor with? And you're aware Heero and Duo have no identification? And that I have an awful lot of money that seems to have come from nowhere? And you're concerned about the small arsenal we have? And our un-networked computers and gadgets are ringing alarm bells for you? Oh, and yes that is the Origen asleep in my bed...yeah, not a conversation he felt like having any time soon. Not that there would be a conversation because Heero would have killed them before they got through the door, and then it would have been a night of skulking about the station trying to dispose of bodies. Which Trowa still wasn't in the mood for, thank you kindly.

Heero was already working, taking his laptop to the desk and sitting in their one chair, fingers flying on the keys, gaze fixed on the screen. Trowa looked down at Duo and smiled at exaggerated roll of the eyes he got, but then Duo got up and came to sit on the bed with him, watching Wufei. He looked gentler like this, having nothing to do besides wait and watch and Trowa could see all the reasons Heero had finally given in and decided to have a life. This was a side of Duo even his friends rarely saw, a lowering of walls so high even Duo himself had trouble scrambling over them at times. It left Trowa with the feeling of emptiness he'd felt after the bad dreams and he softly stroked Wufei's fingers, willing them to respond. They didn't.

"Hey...if Frank built a copy of Wufei, to replace him, and cloned his heart and brain and lungs and everything...how come Nataku's a girl?"

Trowa frowned, because it was strange. Duo had explained it away with his theory that Frank had made himself a girlfriend, but that was far-fetched, considering the gender of the host was irrelevant. But Nataku, while apparently being a robot, had a female form just as Duo had said and it left them both frowning as they puzzled it out.

"I told you it was weird her name was Nataku," Heero point out, turning only long enough to fix them both with a knowing look before turning back to his laptop.

"Wait...Frank remade Wufei's dead wife? With Wufei's organs? Is that even possible?"

Trowa was just thinking it through. Heart, brain, lungs...they were the vital organs, but the robotic parts were all female in gender, and she had been named Nataku. Trowa looked at Wufei and frowned, unable to keep from following two parallel lines of thought and not sure which was the right one.

"Either Frank made her, or Wufei did."

"If Wufei was responsible, it would mean he had some sort of control, which would also mean he could've gotten himself out of this pickle without us being called in," Duo reasoned.

"True. So we assume Frank made her Nataku deliberately, instead of a direct copy of Wufei. Why? What's the difference between Wufei and her?"

"Experience," Heero responded again and Trowa really wished if he was going to be a part of the conversation that he would stop doing the whole 'I can do two things at once' thing and join the conversation whole heartedly. It was just annoying to have him jumping in with answers all the time when you were never sure if he was listening at all to begin with.

It was also annoying that he was right.

"Anyone know what Wufei was like as a kid?" Trowa mused, wishing he knew what Wufei was like as a child, that he knew stories about him growing up, and had pictures of him at different ages. He wished he knew everything, even if Wufei would likely make it his life's mission to hunt down every last image and burn it.

"They recruited him to pilot a Gundam. That should pretty much sum up what he was like!" Duo pointed out, exasperated, but then he paused.

"Angry," Trowa mumbled. "Determined, adamant he's right when he's not..."

"All the fire and none of the water," Duo mumbled and Trowa just stared at him. "What?"

"Nothing, that was just very poetic," Trowa laughed at him, shaking his head and covering his laughter by turning his head a little so his hair hid his grin.

"Shut up!" And Duo was blushing, arms folded over his chest, sulking. Brilliant. But he'd had a point and Trowa looked down at Wufei and tried to compare what Wufei guiding Frank was compared to what Wufei without restraint guiding Frank would be.

"We shouldn't have put Nataku in," Heero agreed, not needing Trowa to say it and they all just nodded. But they knew taking her out wasn't really an option either, because then Frank really did have free reign, and there was a reason the people who made Frank had thought he needed a human conscience. And they couldn't just go pick a random person off the street and put them in, for one...they could be just as bad as Nataku, and secondly they'd be sentencing them to the same fate Wufei had been, which was frankly worse than death, pun entirely intended! It was just all so cleverly done, and they had no way of knowing if their suspicions were correct until Wufei woke up, and even he might not know. Just how conscious was he and how much control had he managed? What if it really had been none at all?

"This sucks." Duo flopped down across the end of the bed and fiddled with Wufei's toes, smirking when Trowa scowled at him. He was right, it did suck and he wished Nataku and Frank had arranged a larger room because this one was getting damn crowded. At least Duo and Heero weren't doing the rabbit thing with him there; he supposed that was a small consolation.

"You can start building the transmitter we're going to attach to the satellite," Heero said, pointing to a bag of supplies near the kitchenette bench. "Everything you need should be in there."

"I'll do the programming, you build?" Duo arched a brow, waiting for Trowa's response. Trowa thought he looked like a racoon.

"You just want to write the message to Quatre," Trowa knew immediately and Duo grinned but Trowa nodded and let him take the laptop. Heero would likely end up editing whatever got sent anyway so it wasn't really doing any harm. Besides, he wasn't in the mood for typing and building meant he got to do something with his hands other than pet Wufei and wait for him to wake up.

He was slow to start, still not engaging with the task as he emptied the components Heero had gathered into a pile on the sleeping bag and slowly started rummaging for what he needed, but once that was done and process was so easy and familiar he sank into it gratefully. The mission mindset was an odd one, sometimes it wouldn't come without the adrenalin or the added incentive of 'oh shit I'm gonna die' but sometimes Trowa found himself in it for no particular reason at all. He'd read an entire book without moving. He'd make a four course meal...just for himself. He'd got for a quick run in the morning and get home at sunset. Something just clicked into place, the world disappeared and the only conscious thing he could think of was the moment and what he had to do. Read, cook, run. Make a transmitter. He liked the mindset, it was familiar and easy and what he needed.

It was 'night' inside Frank by the time he finished and he handed it over to Duo so he could load the program. He was proud of his work too. The transmitter was small, the size of his palm, and wafer thin. They could attach it to any plate on the satellite and no one would notice it was there. Even Duo looked impressed as he turned it over a few times in his hands, eyeing Trowa curiously.

"You been keeping busy between call ins to work with us?"

"I knit too," Trowa smirked.

"No way!"

"You're right...no way." Sometimes, Duo was just gullible, and it was so fun and easy to fall into the pattern of giving him what he half expected to hear, just to see him fumble for a response. He helped Duo shift the transmitter to connect everything he needed and then sat back and amused himself watching boyfriend 1 and boyfriend 2 spend time together typing on their laptops. Neither looked up or so much as acknowledged the other's existence, but Trowa knew either could have told him exactly where the other was, what they were doing and probably how many words a minute they were typing at.

He was about to comment on it when Wufei jerked into a sitting position on the bed, green goo erupting from his mouth and nose, and Trowa was almost sure his ears. It came out in a fountaining mess of sludge and Heero reacted immediately, hauling Wufei up and taking him to the shower, dumping him rather unceremoniously on the floor. Trowa was a step behind and Duo leaned against his shoulder as they watched the green mess pour out of Wufei in choking chunks. There was far too much of it, enough to fill Wufei, and when it finally began to slow Wufei's body slumped back against the shower wall and fell limp once more, a sticky green trail of ooze still leaking out one side of his mouth.

"Okay, that was disgusting!"

"Duo!" Trowa scowled but Duo just shrugged and moved back into the main room, going to the bed and pulling off the sheets, tossing them in the kitchenette and getting new sheets from the closet. Trowa stopped watching him then and turned back to Heero, stepping into the shower to help him get Wufei out of the bandages and showering him clean again.

Duo had remade the bed by the time they brought Wufei back out, clean and wrapped in towels and Trowa laid him out while Heero got the first aid kit. Heero passed a handful of bandages to him and Trowa watched, stunned, as he grabbed a q-tip, dipped it in disinfectant and started sticking it into one of the plugs on Wufei's arm. It came out slightly bloodied and Trowa took a minute to settle his stomach and mind before picking up a q-tip of his own and getting to work.

It was a long process but an hour later Wufei was clean and bandaged and they even managed to get a pair of house pants on him, more for fear of his wrath when he woke up naked than anyone caring he was naked while he was unconscious. Trowa tucked him in under the sheet and hesitated over the slimed blanket, sighing.

"I bought extras," Duo told him softly and went to fetch it from one of the bags he'd brought back from his shopping expedition. Trowa took it gratefully and tossed it over Wufei, leaving him alone because after sticking q-tips in him for an hour he didn't feel like doing anything more.

"He'll wake up in a few hours."

"Wait, did you know that was going to happen? Heero, you could warn a guy!"

"I didn't know, Duo," Heero defended himself grumpily, then admitted in a soft voice, "I suspected."

"That's the same thing you whack job!"

It wasn't but neither Heero nor Trowa bothered to point it out. Duo didn't do disgusting too well and this would likely just become one of those things he reminded them about for years to come. Remember that time when Wufei was unconscious and all of a sudden turned into a vomiting slime monster? Definitely was going to remind them for years.

Trowa sighed and went to get a muesli bar, pausing only when Duo sat on his sleeping bag, clutching his teddy bear, gaping at him.

"What?"

"NOW you want to eat?"

He was hungry now. And Wufei had expelled all the crap from the capsule and would wake up soon and then Trowa would want to spend time with him, not eating, so it was a better idea to eat now. Right? He didn't see why Duo was freaking out about it.

"I'm hungry now."

"You're all mental!"


	9. Chapter 9

9:

It was night when Wufei finally woke. Trowa first became aware of it when Wufei's breathing changed, growing stronger and then more strained. He felt Wufei's limbs twitching then and sat up, grateful for the light of Heero's laptop and Heero sitting there, paused in his work and watching avidly, having noticed the same things as Trowa. Even then, it took a while. Trowa sat at his side the entire time until Wufei moaned and even Duo sat up, coming to stand with Heero and Trowa was suddenly unsure what to do with himself as Wufei's eyes moved under the lids, struggling and then finally opening.

Trowa hadn't realised he was holding his breath until he was forced to exhale and the forced parting of his lips made him smile slightly, the relief at seeing Wufei wake clear on his face where only Wufei could see it behind the fall of his hair.

"Tro."

"Hey." He didn't know what to say, where to even begin, and Wufei looked exhausted already. Heero came to the rescue, a glass of water in one hand and he helped Wufei sit up and drink it in small sips that left him breathing heavy and sweating. He was weak and ill, just as Nataku had said he would be. It was a strange thing to witness, knowing what Wufei had been capable of.

"Where?"

"My Room. Still...on the colony."

Wufei winced and let Heero lay him back down. He closed his eyes, frowning and breathing heavily for a few minutes before he regained his equilibrium, then he was staring at Trowa again and it was clear he was struggling to remember something so Trowa just waited patiently.

"You...how?"

"Frank brought him here, and he brought us here," Duo supplied with a grin and Wufei's gaze flickered away from Trowa to pin on Heero and Duo. He looked confused, not by the close contact but by their presence and it was enough to make Duo settle, moving to sit in Heero's lap and Wufei's gaze turned back to Trowa.

"It worked." The relief in Wufei's voice was so heavy it sank to the bottom of Trowa's heart and anchored him there. Trowa reached out to take Wufei's hand, rubbing his thumb across the back of it, smiling when Wufei squeezed back, weakly but aware of the touch and welcoming it. Or he might have been making a feeble attempt to fling the touch away, but Trowa didn't particularly like that latter possibility so he went with the first.

"It's okay. You're safe. Just rest. We can talk in the morning."

Wufei nodded and Heero and Duo moved back to the sleeping bag. The lights went out but Trowa was aware of Wufei's gaze until his eyes finally slid shut and even then Wufei's hand didn't struggle to move away from his. Sleep came without dreams.

The lights came up in the morning and Trowa sat up blearily, but Heero and Duo were gone. There was a note taped to Heero's laptop saying they'd gone to have breakfast and get supplies. It made Trowa smile faintly because it translated to 'have some space and we'll do the same'.

He got up and showered, taking his time, letting the water wash over his shoulders and down his back, washing away the fear and uncertainty of the last day, reminding himself Wufei was with them again now and was going to be okay. It wasn't time to freak out anymore, it was time to get the job done. He pep talked himself through the shower in this fashion and came out with just the house pants on only to feel eyes watching him. He looked over at Wufei and felt the odd need to put on a shirt, but didn't. He walked to the bed and knelt down beside it so he was eye to eye with Wufei and smiled.

"Morning."

"I feel awful!"

"You don't say." And here he had thought you could spend a few years in a capsule full of green gunk with wires stuck in you via two hundred ports in your body and remain conscious while a computer stole control of your emotions and wake up just fine after it. But that Wufei sounded genuinely confused only made Trowa smile and he reached out to tuck Wufei's hair behind his ear.

"Thank you."

"I should have come sooner. I should've known you wouldn't run away."

"Run...What?" Wufei tried to sit up and failed and looked so completely furious at his predicament Trowa barely restrained his laughter, getting up instead and piling the pillows behind Wufei, helping him sit and then going to get more water. He suspected Wufei would be thirsty for a while yet. He got a jelly cup as well, just in case, pleased when Wufei showed a hint of interest in it.

"I never run away, from anything!"

"I know. I should've remembered." But he'd been hurt by the continuous rejection, and the disappearance after the job interview had been the last straw. He'd gone home, Wufei being the only reason he'd tried Preventers to begin with when he came nagging at him to sign up, and once he was there the job bored him to tears. A holiday, he'd told everyone. Just a break, but he hadn't bothered looking for a new job, hadn't felt the desire to do anything at all. Besides mope, according to the emails Duo periodically sent him.

"I wondered what was taking you so long," Wufei admitted grumpily. His hand was shaking around the glass of water but he was holding it and Trowa knew it had to be taking a great deal of strength, determination and concentration. Wufei looked like a small bird, breakable and delicate. Knowing what he had been, and what he would be again made it painful to see him this way and he tried to let none of his despair at the situation show, not wanting Wufei to feel embarrassed on top of everything else.

"So it was you who had Frank bring me here?"

"Frank?" Now Wufei looked thoroughly confused and Trowa did laugh, soft and warm and genuine.

"Duo's pet name for the colony," he explained and saw understanding dawn on Wufei's face, followed by a scowl. His thoughts on the colony seemed unpleasant, and Trowa was far from surprised. If he felt inclined to blow the thing into oblivion, he could only imagine the things Wufei would want to do to it. He was sure it would have made a spectacular movie though, and wouldn't have included words like 'dude' that would haunt them for however long it took Duo to get over it.

"No, I couldn't...I made no decisions, the system did that. But I found I could force it to make the decision I wanted, whenever there were choices available."

Pride swelled in Trowa's chest and he didn't dare say anything for fear he would sound like Duo when he opened his mouth. Dude, you so rock? Dude, you're my hero? Dude, I'm in love with you and have been since that day you saved that kitten on our first Preventers assignment together and stowed it away in your sword bag until we got back to Preventers and you could hide it in your desk? Yeah, no, he did not need to open his mouth right now.

"So you made him save you."

"It suited its plan. It had to get rid of me," Wufei corrected. "I just forced it to let me live."

For which Trowa was very grateful. He opened the jelly cup and stuck the spoon in, exchanging it for the empty glass of water and Wufei looked at it with a sigh before making his first attempt at eating. The spoon took a long time to get from the cup to Wufei's mouth and Trowa made a mental note to make things that could use a straw for a while.

Trowa took the cup from him carefully, and didn't bother saying anything, just put jelly on the spoon and held it near Wufei's mouth. Wufei hesitated, but didn't argue. Trowa suspected he was silently grateful he hadn't had to ask.

"You look good."

Trowa couldn't say the same, and yet he sort of liked Wufei this way, forced to sit and do as Trowa wanted, quiet and curious about Trowa for once instead of gruff and insulated. He was quiet, feeding Wufei the jelly and trying not to think about too much. He didn't want his head exploding, and the idea made him think of Wufei and the green vomiting explosion...definitely didn't want his head exploding.

"So...you got the job, huh?"

Wufei scowled at him and Trowa just smiled at the familiar look, nodding his head. Yes, he was making light of the situation, no he didn't have a good excuse except he doubted Wufei really wanted to think about much right now, and he wanted to see him smile. Selfish, but he didn't care.

"Guess so. I said yes, figured I could go home and think about things." Think about Them. If he chose Trowa he could have just rung them and said he changed his mind. If he chose the job he could tell Trowa and make a clean getaway. But he hadn't even taken the job or signed a contract, they'd just taken him there and then and plugged him in. It made Trowa furious, the rage contained but simmering deep in his gut.

"Didn't work out that way," Wufei noted with a heavy sigh and his expression was pained. He lost interest in the jelly and Trowa didn't push it. He could make fruit smoothies later, they'd always been more Wufei's style anyway. He shifted around on the bed, tugging Wufei forward so he could climb in behind him, sitting up against the wall and pulling Wufei back against his chest, wriggling a little until it was comfortable and kissing Wufei's temple. He could feel the heat of Wufei's blush against his chest and smiled.

"Talk to me?"

It was a fool's mistake, to stay quiet and unsure of what to say. Wufei had been so deprived of any kind of contact he could have told him about the three little pigs and he was sure Wufei would have listened. It was almost tempting, but instead he tried to think of something Wufei might be interested in, or at least something he hoped he was interested in.

"I took leave. Everyone kept saying you'd split, got sick of me nagging you, so I took leave. Une eventually convinced me to stay on as a consultant but I only ever got calls from Heero or Duo when they were stuck on something and needed extra hands. Didn't bother getting a different job, did a few rounds with the circus though."

"Did you get a pet monkey?"

Trowa was confused for a minute before he remembered a random lunch conversation about circuses and Wufei admitting he'd wanted a pet monkey growing up until one stole his drink in a park and then he'd held some weird vendetta against them ever since. It was nice, that he'd remembered.

"Uh...no. No pet monkey. I tried to get approval for an elephant but the body corporate on my property kept knocking me back."

That finally won him a laugh, the gentle shaking of Wufei's body like a soothing massage against his chest.

"You always get bored. Someone has to keep an eye on you, or...anything can happen."

It just made Trowa sad, because Wufei had kept an eye on him and he hadn't done the same. Even if he'd said no, and taken the job, if it had been an ordinary job to take, Wufei would have kept tabs on him, on everyone! He would've known where they were and what they were doing and who they were with and he would have sent one of those ridiculous empty red envelopes on new years with nothing in it. Trowa hated those things, he always ended up opening it, convincing himself this time it would be different and there would be something inside and Wufei was always so sneaky and hinting that this one was the one that was different, and always there was nothing inside.

He'd gone out and bought himself a red envelope last year, but it wasn't the same at all.

"I don't get bored when I'm with you."

Wufei was quiet, but that was fine, Trowa hadn't expected an answer. Wufei had never been big on talking when their relationship wasn't completely screwed up, so it wasn't exactly a surprise that he wasn't big on talking about it now that it was. It took him a while to realise Wufei wasn't talking because he was asleep again and then he just felt stupid.

Duo and Heero came back in mid-morning, by which time Trowa had extricated himself from the bed, leaving Wufei buried under the pile of blankets he felt compelled to wrap him in while he busied himself cutting up fruit and trying to dream up ways Frank might have gotten fruit. He ignored the most obvious option, that it was grown somewhere on site. That was just boring. It was much more fun thinking of laser microwaves that made fruit out of air, or a plantation somewhere that sent fruit to the colony by Molecularization, only that led him to wondering what lasting effects Molecularization had on things and whether the fruit was really safe to eat or would make his balls shrivel and fall off.

"Oooh, smoothies, good idea!" Duo's smile was too excited as he stalked his way into the kitchenette. Trowa did not want to know what little nook or cranny they had found to get their rocks off in. "Wufei still asleep?"

"He was awake a few hours ago. Had some water and half a jelly cup, crashed again."

"Huh. Least he ate something."

Heero dumped another bag of bandages in the corner and went to sit at the laptop, getting straight back to work. Trowa didn't need to look at Duo to know his eyes would be rolling. He handed him some pears and Duo didn't need any further prompting, getting to work on peeling them and cutting them up with the rest of the fruit piles Trowa had made.

Wufei woke when they turned the blender on and hauled himself up against the pillows again. Trowa didn't hear what he said, but Heero was talking to him softly and he left them to it while he finished Heero's pineapple and orange. Duo had asked for every berry they had, Trowa was making himself pear, apple and honey and when he turned off the blender and took Heero his smoothie he looked expectantly at Wufei.

"What can we make you?"

"Um...I dunno, just put in whatever?" Meaning he didn't want to have to think that hard and Trowa just nodded and went back to the kitchenette, grabbing Wufei's cup before Duo could get his hands on it and putting together a mix he knew would suit Wufei's tastes and help settle any queasiness in his stomach, which after you had vomited streams of green slush had to be there.

Duo turned the blender on again and made fast work of his berry smoothie, leaving it to Trowa to make up the last two while he went to sit with Heero and talk to Wufei. Trowa felt a stab of jealousy but focussed on getting lunch made because Wufei didn't need him sitting there staring at him, he needed food, so food was what he was going to get. Sort of.

He finished them off and put a straw in each so Wufei didn't get suspicious when he was the only one drinking with a straw, and when he took them over, Trowa dropped an extra straw in Duo's cup as well, perfectly happy for Heero to look like the odd one out instead of Wufei.

"What are you working on?"

"A way out of here," Heero replied immediately and Wufei winced, clearly feeling guilty that they were there at all but said nothing, just settled more comfortably on the pillows and sipped his smoothie. The sudden hint of interest on his face after the first sip was all the thanks Trowa needed.

"We figure next time they bring in a satellite we'll rig it with a transmitter to send a message to Quatre for us, explaining what's happened and giving them all the information we have on Frank. Get Quatre to bring a ship out here, get Frank to beam us on board and off we go Scotty."

Trowa was glad he wasn't the only one who looked a little confused, even if they did mostly get the gist of what Duo was saying.

"Quatre can't come here," Wufei noted immediately. "Send him the message, but he can't be the one to come." But he was frowning and Trowa suspected he was trying to figure out what he knew about the whole mess and not liking what he was remembering. It had to be strange, to remember decisions that weren't your own and got made by someone else. Strange, Trowa thought, didn't really begin to cover it but Wufei was just sitting there calmly frowning so he couldn't be struggling too badly with it.

"Look...I need time to remember all the details, but the satellites. They started off as just...Frank? Seriously, why the hell did you call it Frank?"

Duo looked stunned, neither Heero or Trowa stepped up in his defence which left him sitting there glumly, pouting.

"Like Frankenstein."

Wufei stared at him and eventually just shook his head, muttering something in Chinese that didn't sound flattering at all, but it was always hard to tell with Chinese. He sipped at his smoothie and went his lips again before continuing, and Trowa nearly missed what he said, distracted by Wufei's tongue when it came out to lick swiftly at the leftover milk in the corner of his mouth.

"They were just renewing the system surveillance, but there was something on one of the satellites and...Frank...started making plans. It has something to do with the Winners."

"Peachy," Duo grumbled, not because they wanted Quatre to be the one who came to the rescue, but more because Wufei was implying Frank had his own agenda and they all knew they weren't leaving without figuring out what it was.

"Can this get any worse?" Duo didn't expect an answer, which was good because he didn't get one. Trowa wasn't going to point out that they could all die slow horrible deaths, like maybe being re-Molecularized the wrong way around. If Duo started thinking along those lines none of them were going to get any sleep.

"You need to focus on getting stronger," Heero noted softly. "Don't worry about trying to remember anything just yet, but we'll show you anything we have planned first and you can tell us if we need to change something, alright?"

Wufei nodded and held out his cup to Trowa. It wasn't empty but it was far from full and he took it without comment, taking it to the sink and putting the leftover fruit away in the fridge to be used later. Duo had climbed up onto the bed to sit beside Wufei so Trowa felt entirely justified climbing in on his other side, though he was a little disappointed when Wufei made no move to shift any closer. He just seemed content to have them there, which wasn't that amazing an epiphany when someone had been alone in a capsule for a few years.

Trowa booted up the Computer and selected 'Movies', letting Duo take over and find something to watch. He shifted himself closer to Wufei, feeling him stiffen for a moment when he pressed against his side, but then he relaxed and Trowa smiled as the heat of Wufei's body reassured him and helped his own thoughts calm.

Duo had barely selected the movie and got it playing before Wufei was asleep, but Trowa and Duo stayed where they were and watched the film, having nothing better to do while Heero continued to try and gather intel on Frank and what was going on.

"If Frank's the bad guy...what do we do?"

"Blow it up," Heero responded immediately and Duo just snorted at the suggestion. "What?"

"There are innocent people here, Heero."

"You don't know they're innocent."

"They don't deserve to die! Geez, Trowa tell him!"

Trowa did not tell him, but he thought it was amusing anyway. Sometimes it was good that certain things never changed.

"You're both right. We get the people out, we kill Frank." If only it would be that simple, he was still hoping they were completely on the wrong track and Frank was their friend, but it really depended on what Wufei could sort out in his head, and that could take too long. Heero wouldn't wait for Wufei to have the facts straight, he would want to act as soon as the opportunity arose and Trowa understood the impulse. It wasn't just their job anymore, it was very, very personal.

"That works," Duo agreed, but he was looking at Trowa, waiting for him to continue. Trowa had thought that pretty much summed up what they would have to do.

"What?"

"How do we get the people out?"

"How the hell should I know! We don't even know if that's going to be necessary, I'm not about to waste a night thinking of a way to do it for shits and giggles?"

Duo just shrugged and flopped down on the sleeping bag, rummaging through his things for his laptop and distracting himself with writing down everything he could think of since he got here, much as Trowa had done because it was a good reference and they needed to send Quatre absolutely everything they could. Trowa wasted time downloading the manuals from the Computer to his laptop to send with his own notes, then got restless and decided to go for a walk. He couldn't begin to say why other than if three was company, four was worse than a crowd.

"You'll have to go to work tomorrow," Heero warned and Trowa just shrugged it off as he pulled on his white suit.

"Have to go anyway if I'm going to find out when the next satellite is coming in."

He just went into Chinatown station, surprising himself by going to the temple and going to wait in line. He had a candle he wanted to light but he wasn't sure why he wanted to. Was it for Wufei? Himself? All of them? The hope that they would get home soon? Ever?

The people ahead of him did it with such ease, taking their candles and never missing a step as they went to the altar, found a free space and stuck their candle into the holder, lighting it and whispering softly under their breath. Trowa wondered what they prayed for, that it came with such ease. For little Johnny's cold to go away? For his big sister's new love affair to blossom into something deeper? For Father Joe not to get bored with yet another job and have to start over again? For Mother Jane to beat the depression she was slowly sliding into? The world felt so trivial.

He remained quiet and deep in thought as the line moved slowly and he eventually got to the pile of candles and took one, scanning his card to pay the donation fee and moving to the altar.

He stood in front of all the other candles, feeling a fraud. So many prayers and he doubted anyone was listening. He turned the candle over and over in his hands and the people around him came and left, leaving another wish in their wake and still he stood there, holding his candle and trying to figure out what he was doing.

Was he really here to make a wish, or to undo one? Did he really wish to forget about Wufei? He'd spent years pushing the feelings down inside, trying to move on. He'd wished for it to go away, hadn't he? So what right did he have to stand here and pray to take the wish away, to let him keep the emotions swelling inside? And if he could keep them, shouldn't he wish for them to get home safely? Could he really rely on something as fickle as a candle to light the way home?

He had no idea how long he stood there contemplating the art of wishing on a candle. Too long.

"You know, I think the general idea is just to light it."

Startled, Trowa looked up at the monk, not at all mollified by his smile. He looked down at the candle and sighed, putting it in a free holder among the many and picking up a match, but he didn't light it, looking at the monk and back again and then pointing at the candle.

"I don't know why I'm lighting it."

"Perhaps the desire to do so is reason enough?"

Perhaps it was. Trowa just shrugged and lit the damn thing. The monk stayed with him as he walked away and Trowa gave in to the temptation, moving off to a seat against the far wall, sitting wearily and letting his hands hang limp in his lap.

"You always seem troubled. Always quiet, always watching. Sometimes you just have to have faith that things are how they are supposed to be."

Faith. He'd never been big on that one and Trowa was careful not to let his opinion of it show. Fate would have seen him die a thousand times. Taking fate in his own hands and wrenching it into what he needed had seen him live, and this time Wufei's life was thrown into the mix, and Heero and Duo...

"I'm sorry. I'm just..."

"Trying to get the job done?" The monk smiled and held out a piece of paper. Trowa took it but didn't look at it. "When I have a problem I cannot solve? I go there. It helps clear my head."

"Thank you." Because no matter what he personally believed, the man was trying to help him and Trowa understood that desire all too well. He smiled briefly and watched the man walk away, sitting quietly by himself for a long time before he finally opened the piece of paper.

He jerked upright and looked around for the monk but he was nowhere to be seen and Trowa looked back down at the piece of paper again.

Level 1, Hanger 101. There was no Hanger 101. He stuffed the piece of paper in his pocket and got up slowly, scanning the area for anyone who looked suspicious but the monk was nowhere to be seen and everyone was just going about their usual evening business. He shook his head, cast one last look at his candle and left, wandering back to His Room. A piece of paper shouldn't have felt heavy, but this one did.

Wufei was awake again and Trowa met his gaze before he registered that Duo was making dinner while Heero continued to work. Trowa nodded at him and then fished the piece of paper out, dropping it in front of Heero.

"What is it?"

"Not sure. The monk at the temple gave it to me. He left before I got the chance to look at it. He said when he was troubled, he went here and it helped him clear his head."

Duo was there immediately, looking over Heero's shoulder while Trowa tried to convince himself he should give Wufei space and not go sit with him on the bed. He stood in the middle of the room instead, still unnerved that the monk had managed to sneak up on him at the altar, and that the man apparently had been military, or at least knew something about that level he shouldn't have known.

"Look into it tomorrow," Heero demanded and Trowa agreed with a silent nod. Wufei shrugged when they passed him the piece of paper, though one slender hand slid into his hair and clutched his head, as if he was chasing a memory and not quite catching it. Trowa figured it would come to him, or Trowa would get there and figure it out for him. Either way, they'd find out what was in Level 1's Hanger 101.

"I'm going for a shower."

"Be quick!" Duo called out, waving a spoon at him. "Dinner's nearly ready!"

"...that's ominous." And he meant it. Duo could have made anything.

"That's what I said," Wufei grumbled and Trowa found himself smiling as he went in to grab his five minutes of alone time.


	10. Chapter 10

10:

Trowa was relieved when he woke up before the lights came on, and before Wufei woke up and everyone realised he'd smothered Wufei in his sleep. He rolled his eyes at himself and unwound his arms from around Wufei, pulling himself free with dubious care, breathing a huge sigh of relief when Wufei didn't wake and hurrying to have a much needed shower.

He'd expected to feel worse about having to go back to work, but now that Wufei was awake he felt calmer about the whole thing and he knew his mind had refocussed on the next thing on their list to do; getting out. And, if you were Heero, possibly blowing up Frank. It made Trowa chuckle as he got out of the shower and got dressed in a white suit to wear down to Level 1. He was just doing up the cuffs when the lights came up and he smirked at Heero and Duo as they tried to untangle themselves from each other and the bag.

"Trowa? You've been here too long, man, you look happy to be going to work!"

Trowa didn't bother pointing out that he was happy to be doing something, even if it meant he wasn't there watching over Wufei. He suspected Wufei would be glad not to have him hovering for even just a few hours of the day.

Duo grumbled and crawled into the bathroom, literally...on hands and knees, kicking the door shut behind him. Trowa chuckled when it didn't slam, as he had expected.

"Okay, so I need to try and find Hanger 101. You want me to check out anything else?"

"No. I'll send Duo to look at anything else I think of."

Dismissed! Trowa would have walked straight out but he had the ridiculous urge to go kiss Wufei goodbye before he went and he had to physically touch the wall to stop himself from doing it. Instead he pushed at the door and it disappeared for him.

"I'll meet you at the interchange cafe!" He called out to Duo as he left.

He would have been a fool if he didn't check the shuttle area for the monk, so he did. He even went and checked on his candle but it was gone, swept away at some point in the night, the area cleared for today's offerings. He hadn't thought he would see the monk again so soon, and probably not until he found Hanger 101, but he tried anyway.

He gave up before his lingering could be noticed and caught the shuttle down to Level 3, catching the next shuttle to the interchange and going in to the cafe, smiling and waving to Tracey as she served another customer.

"Morning Mister Bloom, I won't be a minute!"

"I'm not in a hurry, take your time. I'll just get two of the usual, yeah?"

"Yeah, sure thing! I'll bring it over." And she went back to serving the other customers while Trowa went and found a nondescript booth against the far wall where he could see out the window with ease but people walking by would having trouble seeing him.

As promised, Tracey didn't take long to bring out his coffees and muffins and she looked curiously at the empty seat.

"Your friend's not coming today? I just assumed he was and made two orders."

"He's just running a bit late, that was exactly what I wanted," he reassured her, smiling at her and tasting the coffee, moaning in appreciation because it really was a good coffee, every time. "It's great. Thank you Tracey, here..." He fished his card out of his pocket and handed it over so she could charge it.

"You want a coffee to take away as well? Yeah, that'd be great. Make it two?"

"Not a problem," she agreed, and he noticed she looked a little different to usual, more dressed up. She was wearing heels, and she'd left her hair down with a pretty clip on the side. He didn't try to disillusion her, because it looked good and maybe someone might actually notice her and take her on a date or ten. She deserved that.

Duo arrived, running into the cafe and waving to Tracey, blowing her a kiss before sliding into the booth opposite Trowa and grinning at the waiting muffin and coffee.

"A man could get used to this." Trowa supposed Heero didn't make breakfast very often. Even having someone buy him breakfast had to be a bit of a novelty for Duo. The meal he'd cooked for them the night before had been simple but cooked extremely well, and he imagined Duo had taken up cooking to avoid having to eat whatever rat packs Heero kept trying to replace his meals with.

"I even ordered you an extra coffee to take away."

"Aww, I'm so touched!" Duo emphasised just how touched he was by biting into his muffin with gusto.

"Wufei awake yet?"

"Nope, dead to the world."

Trowa sat back in his seat and sipped his coffee slowly, enjoying the warmth of it and the steamy bitterness so early in the morning. The caffeine hit wasn't anything to sneeze at either and even though he hadn't felt particularly tired he knew he needed to be sharp today and he had a lot to get done, so it definitely wasn't going to hurt.

"So what's Heero got you doing? Rumour mongering?"

"Pretty much. Seeing what's being said around the place, try and lay some false ones of my own. Wants me to start looking for anything on The Passion Flower as well."

"From the shuttle? Well, in order it was La Pasionaria, Origen, Trowa Barton. I figure we've had the second and third, it's just the first we're missing. Heero agreed and told me to see what I could find out."

Trowa nodded. He'd forgotten about it entirely, and he shouldn't have but he thought all things considered he could be forgiven forgetting one cryptic message. It was an odd one though, and possibly as impossible to predict as the Origen had, at least he hoped Wufei going for a job interview and getting abducted and forced to be the conscience of a mysterious disappearing self aware colony was impossible to predict, because if it wasn't and it was somehow a common occurrence life was just never going to be the same again, and he rather liked his life.

"You might want to check the library. There was a Spanish revolutionary centuries ago...they called her La Pasionaria. Maybe there's a clue?"

"Huh. I didn't know that, I just knew there was an actual flower called the Passion Flower, so I'll look them both up."

Trowa nodded, suddenly not envying Duo the freedom of not having a job. He was still out and about and if they got desperate Trowa knew Heero would go out too, leaving Wufei to hold down the fort. Or just sleep really, since it didn't really need holding down, though Trowa knew Heero would be just as paranoid as him about guarding Wufei, just in case someone did figure out where he was and came to collect the Origen. Better for Heero to be sitting there with a gun at the ready than hope Wufei woke up when someone barged through the door.

But if he was going to be out, he'd rather it be on Level 1 with the military, keeping an eye on what was going on down there, and getting them the vitals they needed. And solving strange mysteries like Hanger 101. It also helped that he got to pilot a very cool Fighter. Heero hadn't flown one yet, and he would have totally rubbed it in if he thought Heero wouldn't try to go enlist just to be even with him.

I won't stop by here on the way home, not even sure what time I'll finish today, so I'll see you tonight," he noted softly, waving to Tracey to get his take away coffee and card back. She had them ready at the counter as he passed and he didn't bother looking back at Duo, knowing he was getting ready to head out as well.

He was right on time to work, making a show of sniffling a few times and coughing as he got changed and people gave him a little extra space. They continued to do so as he continued to sniffle all the way to his Hanger.

"Bloom, I thought I told you to stay home!"

"You did Sir, but...I was feeling okay when I got up, guess it just isn't as out of my system as I thought," he whined deliberately and the man took pity on him, getting him a blanket from the stores and sending him down to his simulator.

"Turn the heater on in there or something!"

"Yes, Sir!" He hurried down to his simulator, climbed inside and closed the door with a satisfied grunt.

There was little he could do without arousing suspicion, but he did access his flight details and saw he was rostered on for scouting duties in three days time. There was a scouting group in two days marked with a blue star as his original one had been and he guessed that was a satellite run, making note of the time and date.

He waited until lunch time before venturing out, finding his superior officer again and asking quietly if he could go for a walk, to help his lunch settle. The man readily agreed, told him to catch the shuttle and do a few laps or just have a look around, it would do the new guy good to get a better handle on where things were anyway. He even gave him a nice shiny pass in case anyone asked what he was doing.

He took the man's advice and did a lap on the shuttle first, peeking into each Hanger and making a mental note of what was in it and its dimensions but when he got back to his own there was no unaccounted for space. He hadn't expected it to be that easy but it meant he had to get off the shuttle and take a walk. He stuck to the outside wall, running his hand along it and occasionally leaning to give the idea he was using it as a support rather than the careful feeling out he was doing, testing the pressure of it and tapping to listen for any clue that a panel was different.

It took hours and when he got back he was no closer to figuring it out than he had been, but the search had left him frustrated and tired. He went back to his simulator and slumped down in the chair, staring at the ceiling and spinning in an anti-clockwise direction. He felt like he was turning the clock backwards, and subsequently was gaining more time and even if it didn't work it made him feel better about not finding Hanger 101, which meant he could almost put up with the hell Heero was going to give him over it. Not that Heero would say anything, but Heero didn't really need to say anything, he just had to grunt and turn away and glare at his laptop and you generally felt like a goose. Trowa didn't like geese; the sound they made was annoying.

He took out his simulation manual and flicked through, looking for anything interesting, just trying to get ideas really, when something caught his eye. An image of the controls in front of him and it wasn't that anything was wrong really, there was just something nagging at him and he started comparing it to the real thing in front of him.

The buttons were all the same, the controls identical, the joystick even the same make as in the actual SiS, there was nothing amiss but something about it was still nagging him and he had to wonder if he wasn't coming down for something for real when he finally realised there wasn't going to be a door into Hanger 101.

Then his stomach started protesting at the mere thought of Molecularization. It still meant he had to find the way in, and he ran the simulator because he could scope out the outside of Frank from the comfort of his workspace, smirking because the manual did stress that the simulator was made from real footage of Frank and the external sensors to ensure that everything they trained with was the real deal. Trowa could certainly appreciate that attention to detail, especially when it made him life so much easier.

He did several laps of the whole colony, but could see nothing externally that would indicate there was an additional Hanger. His internal lap had been slow and calculated and he knew there was no missing floor space. When he flew a lap and counted all the pads they were present and accounted for, no extra Molecularization possibilities.

Except one.

He flew his simulator around to Frank's nose and parked himself in front of the eye, studying it for a long time. He hadn't given much thought to the insignia until now, but they still had no idea what it was supposed to mean.

The eye made more sense now they knew about the Origen. The third eye was always associated with the pineal gland and for a long time was considered the seat of the soul; the place where the mind met the body. Did that make the eye the Origen? But it was also the place Frank sucked people into himself, which the Origen had nothing to do with as far as Trowa could tell. And what of the sword cutting through it? Decoration? It had to mean something, he doubted a group of know it all scientists had decided to just randomly cut through the middle of their souls with a blade, unless it was some weird form of Harakiri? He was sure that made even less sense.

Either way, the eye wasn't telling him anything and he suspected he was going to have to do some research of his own. He was about to give up on the simulator all together when he decided to fly over the top of Frank. Preventers had gotten very few shots of Frank at all, and none of the top. He found it immediately curious that nothing had managed to fly overhead, only underneath where the military could react accordingly.

From above, Frank was a sleek, endless slip of inky darkness. Not a single seam in his exterior was visible though there had to be some. He was beautiful and Trowa sat for a while just staring, awed once again by the sheer size of the endeavour someone had taken upon themselves. It made the Gundams look like child's play. It left him feeling small and insignificant and he suddenly wanted, very badly, to go home, not to His Room inside Frank, but on solid ground on Earth, in his ridiculous apartment and his stupid body corporate who wouldn't let him have a pet elephant despite his reassurances he would clean up all its poo and fertilize all the gardens free of charge.

He was leaning towards Heero's method of things. Blow Frank to Hell.

He gave up his search, admitting defeat. The only ways in and out of Frank were the eye, and the military pads, and none of those led to Hanger 101.

He froze and stared out into the nothing of Space, then dropped back down to stare at Frank's underside. The military inside Frank was huge, an army all Frank's own, but they were still running enlistment drives, and Trowa had been put straight through. They needed pilots, which meant there were pads not being used.

"Halle-fucking-lujah."

He exited the simulator and grabbed the 'on a walk' card his superior had given him and went for another walk. He lingered at each Hanger, counting personnel and Fighters, comparing the numbers until he got to Hanger 100 and paused when he saw a lone mechanic working on one of the SiS-50s. A mechanic doing his job was by no means a strange sight, but Trowa had never seen one work alone.

"Hey," he said softly, wandering over with his hands in his pocket, looking up at the SiS as if her were just admiring it while in fact he was trying to look up its skirt, so to speak.

"Hi! Takin a walk?"

"Um...yeah. How'd you know?" Like it wasn't obvious by the fact he was wandering around staring at crap with a walk card in his hand.

"You've got a free pass," the mechanic laughed, pointing to the card and Trowa played alone, laughing at his own stupidity and shoving the card in his pocket as if he was embarrassed and hadn't had the thing out where everyone could see it on purpose.

"She broken?"

"Not sure," the man grunted, pulling open a hatch in the floor and shoving his hands in, hauling out a mess or wiring that made Trowa cringe. He was suddenly glad Frank had employed him as a Pilot instead of a Mechanic. The homework he would have had to do to get through a day's work would have left him a zombie and then he would have had to listen to Duo's bad zombie jokes and likely watch several awful movies.

"It's a shame...they're beautiful to fly."

"Flyboy huh...should've guessed. You get that goofy look on your face when you look at them," the mechanic laughed softly. "She flies just fine, just won't Molecularize right. Thought it was a DNA fault at first, but everything works just fine far as all the tests can tell. So they thought it was the SiS, but when they put it on another pad, she went out just fine."

"So it's gotta be the pad then?" Bingo, finally it only took him all day but he'd found the damn thing and Heero could shove his cold shoulder in someone else's face.

"I'm thinkin so, but everyone else has just about given up on it. I'm not the givin up type, so I come in here whenever I get a bit of free time and take another look."

An admirable quality, but curiosity killed the cat and if someone didn't want the problem solved the poor mechanic was likely to lose his life. Not that Trowa could do anything to help. If he warned the guy it would look suspicious, and if he helped he'd likely meet the same fate. Instead, he just shook his head and told the guy he worked too hard. The man just agreed and Trowa took one last look before walking away, whistling softly under his breath, feeling content with his day's work.

It still annoyed him that he had to go back and sit in his simulator pretending to work until the clock struck six and the mass exodus from Level 1 began. He found a seat on the shuttle and caught it back out, changing as slowly as he could force himself to and heading back up to Level 3. He paused at the cafe, sticking his head in to say Hi, making sure Duo wasn't there and ordering a cup of tea to take away while Tracey told him in hushed whispers about the search for something that had been stolen from Level 5. Men in expensive looking suits had apparently gone to every business on Level 3, telling them to keep an eye out for a man with Wufei's description. Trowa oohed and ahhed in all the right places and on the inside threw the hissy fit of his life. Not that Wufei was thinking of leaving the room anytime soon, but if he'd wanted to go for a walk he should have damn well been able to. But that was never the way it worked. He smiled and thanked her for the tea and hurried out.

He stopped only once more. To go into the temple. The crowds were in, peak traffic lines down to the altar and the various forms of worship so it didn't look odd that he didn't line up, but he went to stand in the corner and watch, pretending to pray, just waiting.

The monk came from behind a curtain to the side of the altar. He walked slowly down the side wall and came to stand beside him, looking too serene and comfortable as he surveyed his flock. Trowa idly wondered how much money religious groups made inside Frank. The people were so determined to follow their daily routines exactly, he doubted they ever missed a worship. If all of those people paid twenty cents every time they chose a fortune stick, how much was that alone every day making the temple? Maybe he should audit them. Did anyone ever get audited inside Frank? When was the end of the tax year on an invisible colony? Did you even have to pay tax? Maybe all these people moved here to avoid paying it?

Not likely.

"Long day?"

"Aren't they all. Was productive though."

He saw the monk's lips twitch as if he wanted to laugh but the man just continued to stand there, watching everyone in a way not unlike the way Trowa watched everyone. It made him uneasy. He didn't particularly like being made to feel uneasy.

"Does the temple pay taxes?"

"But of course!" The monk chuckled but he looked far too serious when he turned to look at him. "Don't we all?"

He knew. Trowa just laughed and shrugged, not bothering to lie. The monk knew Trowa didn't pay, somehow knew he wasn't from there. Maybe from that first bumbling expedition when they'd first encountered one another, or maybe he knew more than that but either way he knew. Trowa contemplated the pros and cons of killing him now, and when he came up with only one pro and a long list of cons decided he had spent far too much time recently with Heero. He couldn't just go around killing monks in their temple and expect no one to notice.

"I'm actually quite good with them, if you ever need a hand? I used to be an accountant."

Trowa nodded, getting the message loud and clear.

"That would be appreciated. Thank you."

"No need for thanks. Everyone needs a friend, eventually."

Trowa just hoped eventually was still a long time away and was grateful when the monk left, wandering into his flock and talking quietly to those who greeted him. Trowa thought there was no cowardice in turning on his heel and leaving, and it wasn't fleeing if you weren't running. Really.

Wufei was sitting up in bed, laptop on his knees, reading. He looked up immediately when Trowa came in, and Trowa fancied the small smile was for him, though it could have easily been for whatever Heero had just said that was making Duo laugh so hard where they were both sprawled on the sleeping bag.

"Did you find it?"

"I think so."

They were all staring at him, but he didn't really feel like talking. There was something weird about walking into a room where everyone else had already been talking and you had no idea what the conversation was about. He didn't like it, and he was tired so he waved off Heero's glare and went straight to the bathroom. He wanted his five minutes, and to wash of the dirty feeling of being watched that had come over him at the temple. Stupid monk.

When he came out Wufei had moved across on the bed, leaving him room to sit beside him and was watching him expectantly. Trowa was surprised by the offer, unsure of where he stood with Wufei. Not knowing what Wufei wanted and knowing all too well what he himself wanted was driving him half mad somewhere inside that he hadn't dared to take a good look at yet. But the offer was too tempting and he went over and sat down next to him, looking down at the laptop curiously.

"It's what Heero's hacked so far. I'm just...checking it."

"He thinks some of its inaccurate," Heero noted bluntly. It was clear he didn't like it, and Trowa wished he'd been a fly on the wall when the issue had started, but it was equally clear he suspected Wufei was right.

"You think Frank is giving us what information he wants us to have, and not necessarily what information we need," Trowa clarified and they all nodded. He sighed and slid down lower into the pillows so he could stare at the ceiling. It made sense, of course, it just unfortunately also indicated there was a good chance Frank really was one of the bad guys. Which meant he had to start thinking of a way to evacuate the entire populous so Heero could go bomb-happy.

"So you think you found the extra Hanger?" Duo was wide-eyed and ready for a story. Trowa suspected he just wanted to have a story told to him instead of having to read about it. Had he really had to read that many books today? Did Frank even have a library?

"Yeah. There's a Molecularization pad that's apparently faulty. They've tried the Fighter on other pads and it goes out just fine, but on this one...nada."

"Bingo," Duo agreed immediately. "So how are you gonna get in?"

"I don't know yet, but I made friends with a mechanic who's been working on it. Everyone else has given up, so it won't look odd if I give him a hand."

"And maybe get as stubborn about it as him and try and work on it a bit yourself as well," Duo nodded knowingly and Trowa was just grateful to have someone around who thought of infiltration the way he did instead of Heero and Wufei's approach of 'blow it open'. Not that Duo didn't like bombs, but he understood the need to be quiet occasionally.

Very occasionally.

"You were right about the ancient dead Spanish chick," Duo said. "Other than that, I've got the anatomy of the actual flower. Which they do grow here, along with a whole bunch of other stuff. Level 2 has a whole 40 sectors just for agriculture and when I went down and asked about greenhouses they pointed me to Level 5, who have an aviary. There are passion flowers there."

"So we're leaning toward the actual flower being the clue," Wufei pointed out, and Trowa suspected he did it just because he knew Trowa hated when someone pointed out the obvious. He was even smirking.

"Well, maybe," Duo corrected. "The dead Spanish lady was interesting...she's famous for the quote 'They shall not pass'." He shrugged and Trowa had to agree in their current situation it could mean something, but he also agreed the actual flower growing in an aviary on Level 5 was much more likely.

"So tomorrow I'm being a mechanic and Duo is going to the aviary? Great."

"Aw, don't be jealous! I promise, I'll come back at least half as dirty as you!" Duo grinned and moved into the kitchenette, raiding the cupboards for something to eat and pulling out spaghetti before heading for the fridge. Trowa tuned him out, relieved after last night that he wouldn't burn down His Room, make too huge a mess, or create something none of them could eat.

"I did find out the next satellite should be brought inside in two days."

"That's soon," Wufei noted. "But fits the schedule I think the system was following. He averaged two a week."

"Alright. Wufei and I will complete the transmission tomorrow, and Duo and I can attach it when it comes in, since you'll have to go to work."

It grated and he scowled at the look on Heero's face that clearly said he thought he had scored a point, but Trowa couldn't argue because facts were facts. He had to get into Hanger 101, and they had to lay the transmitter. Heero was just excited because he might get to shoot stuff.

"Only one problem," Wufei pointed out and they all stared at him. "You don't know where the satellite will be?"

"Oh yeah," Duo mumbled at the stove, mixing something in a pot that actually smelt really good. Trowa's stomach grumbled in response and he put a defensive arm over it when Wufei arched a brow at him. Just because some people got to sit in bed and suck on smoothies all day.

"You know," Heero grunted.

"No," Wufei corrected with a frown, but he was looking at Trowa now. "I don't. But there's a way I can find out."

They were all looking at him now and Trowa felt his heart pound harder into his chest when Wufei lifted up something he had been working on. A cable with a fine point needle on the end.

"No!" Trowa refused immediately, entirely on instinct and when his mind caught up with his mouth he only repeated himself. "Hell no!"

"I can plug myself in from here, I won't be connected to Frank while Nataku is there, I'll just be able to access his systems! It's the perfect solution!" Wufei was angry at being so quickly denied, but Trowa suspected he was angrier at himself for being useless to them and was just trying to find a way to help. This was not, in Trowa's opinion, an option. Unfortunately Heero didn't agree.

"It's not going to hurt him."

"That you know of! You have no idea what will happen if he plugs himself back into that thing!"

"Shut up, both of you!" Wufei glared at them all and carefully got up. Walking looked like it hurt him and he was unsteady on his feet, his sense of balance still skewed but he went to the Computer and he opened a panel on the side, revealing a row of ports. He used the pin to point at Trowa sternly.

"You don't get to decide what I can and cannot do. That's mine. And I can do this. You don't know that, I do. I'm the Origen. I know everything."

It made Trowa pause and Wufei had known it would, he could tell. Was it really Frank who had said that, or had it been Wufei? How much of Frank was Wufei? To what extent did the Origen dictate what Frank did? How could they ever be sure? But Wufei was right...he was the only one who knew, and Trowa was just going to have to trust him.

He walked over and took the cable from Wufei, ripping it out of his hands before he could even attempt to feebly struggle with him over it and he pointed at the bed.

"Go lie down, idiot. I'm not letting you shove it in the back of your own fool head!"

Wufei's eyes went wide but Trowa turned away, unable to see whatever emotions he might find there. Instead, he went about connecting the cable Wufei had made, amused to be hotwiring a Computer instead of a car, grateful when Heero tossed him a connector clip to hold it all in place. He surprised himself when his hands were steady, no sign of shaking, as he went back to the bed.

Wufei rolled onto his side, facing the wall and Trowa was just relieved he didn't have to see his face. He brushed Wufei's hair over his shoulder and Heero carefully cut away the bandage, revealing the silicone plug that took up much of the space at the top of Wufei's neck, and the small port there waiting to be filled.

"You asked for this," Trowa reminded him softly, then he took a deep breath, and pushed it home.


	11. Chapter 11

11:

As the pin hit home, Wufei jerked and fell still. Trowa suddenly regretted his relief at not being able to see Wufei's face, not even sure Wufei was conscious or if the system sucked him in and left his body behind. He took a deep breath and leaned over to take a peek, letting out the breath of air he hadn't realised he was holding in a rush and sitting back against the wall.

"Unconscious?"

Trowa just glared at Heero because this was his fault. If he'd just said no, Wufei would have had to give into them but as it was Wufei had felt like they'd given him their blessing and would think it was okay to do this again. And Trowa would be left to sit there waiting while he listened to his heart thundering in his ear.

Duo finished draining the pasta and then stood in the kitchenette with his hands on his hips, clearly not sure what to do now that Wufei was out.

"Just dish it up. It's not like we have anything better to do while we're waiting." Thanks to Heero know it all Yuy. Yes, he was angry but Heero was just an easy target and underneath it he knew he was just angry at himself. And Wufei. Definitely Wufei. Reckless idiot.

It was easy to say dish it up, but when Duo put a bowl of spaghetti in his hands Trowa didn't know what to do with it. He stared at it for a while, listening to Heero and Duo eat it until he finally had to face the fact it wasn't going to eat itself and he made slow work of devouring it. It was good, but he barely noticed, casting looks at Wufei every couple of mouthfuls as if Wufei might magically turn over and smile at him and say he was fine. He didn't.

"It was good," Heero said to Duo and collected both their bowls. Trowa wasn't done but he handed it over anyway, not interested in eating any more. He ignored the glare Heero shot him because if he was going to get angry over him not eating all the spaghetti his boyfriend made them, they were going to have a serious problem. Luckily, Heero seemed to know it and didn't say a word, just sat back down beside Duo on the sleeping bag.

"You think he'll be hungry when he wakes up? Should I make him a smoothie?" Duo had never done well at sitting and waiting. Trowa just shrugged, not really caring what he did. He didn't bother pointing out that Wufei wasn't 'asleep' and wasn't going to 'wake up', he was plugged into Frank-land and only Wufei really knew what went on there. Dorothy had it so easy being stuck with the Wiz, and she'd gotten to take Toto with her. Real life was so not fair.

Halfway through Duo grinding the fruit and milk into pulp the Computer came on without any warning, startling them all. Trowa sat up and reached up to tuck his hair behind his ear as an image of the white room he had first woken up in appeared. Then it was moving and Trowa memorized each turn until he recognised a nearby hallway and then he just sighed as the footage continued all the way to their door and then the screen flickered and changed to the message board.

"Trowa?"

"Well done, Wufei." Because while he didn't like it, he could still admit that had been good. They knew the way now, and knew what to expect when they got there, sort of. It wouldn't be abandoned, there would be people there fitting the satellite with the new plate to relay its information to Frank, but they could be taken care of. If nothing else they could just give Heero a gun, but Trowa was confident Duo would find a way to do it without blowing out too many brains, if only to avoid the gross factor.

"I have no idea what Frank is doing, but I can access the databases and can use most of the functions of the station. If he finds out he can override anything I do though. I think I'm just...an additional program."

That would come in handy and Trowa shared a knowing look with Heero. Maybe they wouldn't be needing Frank after all. They just needed a portable access point that Wufei could plug in to, though that in itself was hardly a cake walk. Still, it would give Heero something to do now that his hacking skills were entirely redundant and Trowa felt at least a little twinge of snarky pride that it was Wufei who had finally managed to put Heero in his place. Even if he didn't like the situation either.

"Okay, you've proved your point," Trowa sent sternly and the message board replied with *laughter*. Trowa was not amused and waited impatiently until Wufei's hand moved and he struggled to lift it toward his neck. Trowa moved immediately, pulling the pin free as carefully and quickly as he could and rolling Wufei onto his back so he could watch his eyes slowly open.

He didn't breathe until Wufei frowned at him and stabbed a finger in his gut and the air came out in a whoosh.

"Idiot."

"Says the guy who just plugged his head into a computer," Trowa grumbled. He was just pleased nothing had gone wrong and Wufei looked fine. He went and got a bandage to replace on his neck, but then hesitated, holding it up.

"You want a shower?"

"Um...yeah, actually. That'd be good." Wufei moved immediately, trying to get up and Trowa dropped the bandage and lunged to help, catching him under the elbow and letting him take his own weight as he stood, ignoring the impulse to just carry him in there. Really, Wufei should have been grateful; Heero would not have let Duo do the same if their situations were reversed. But then, Heero knew exactly where he stood with Duo, and if he ever got unsure Duo told him. Loudly, with lots of gesturing.

The door closed as soon as they got in the bathroom, and it slowly sank in that Wufei had closed it. Trowa just stared at him and Wufei rolled his eyes, holding out his arm expectantly.

"You're not going to make me take these off myself?"

It was all he had to say before Trowa was mere centimetres from him, fingers catching in the pin holding the bandages in place and ridding Wufei of it while Trowa was still transfixed by the offer. Wufei, asking him to undress him. _Wufei!_

"Never," he promised and got down to work removing the bandages. He started with his arm first, since that was what Wufei had offered and when he got it unwound he looked curiously at Wufei before leaning in to place a kiss on the silicon plug on his shoulder. Wufei shuddered but didn't protest and Trowa couldn't help smiling as he lifted the limb to his lips over and over, placing a kiss on each plug until he got to Wufei's fingertips, brushing them with his own before releasing them.

He met Wufei's dark gaze, loving the touch of pink in his skin, but he waited, wanting Wufei to be the one to move. He smirked when Wufei lifted his other arm expectantly.

It was a fun process, and it helped Trowa know where they were at; right where they had been when Wufei went for that job interview. With him teasing, pushing at the boundaries as much as Wufei would allow, just waiting for Wufei to give in and say...something.

He released Wufei's other arm and waited until Wufei bent one knee and put his leg out expectantly and Trowa obediently slid down to one knee and went about unwinding the bandage from his leg, letting his fingers linger as he unwound it higher and higher, up to his groin, fingers deliberately brushing his ass just under the hem of his shorts before he leant in to kiss the inside of Wufei's thigh.

"There's no plug there," Wufei gasped, but didn't pull away and Trowa just grinned up at him and shifted around to his hip, kissing the plug there and trailing the kisses down his leg, sticking to the plugs and watching as Wufei grew increasingly frustrated with the gentle touches. Then he moved to the other leg and repeated the process and this time when he kissed the inside of Wufei's thigh there was no protest, only a soft moan. Trowa stood and reached down between their bodies, fingertips deliberately brushing Wufei's groin before he untucked the bottom of the bandage from just inside the waistline of Wufei's house shorts and slowly unwound the bandage from around his chest. He hesitated only briefly with his kisses before leaning down to kiss his bellybutton, now capped with the strange silicon, and he followed the line of the small buds up the centre, over his belly and higher, over muscle and bone to his throat and there he really hesitated, hand coming up to cover the larger hole in Wufei's chest, remembering the horrible pin Heero had pulled from there and imagining it being put in.

It must have been on his face, the expression he was feeling, because Wufei's hand came and settled over his own, squeezing briefly and Trowa stared at the two hands before a single tear landed on the back of Wufei's hand and he couldn't say whose it was. It didn't matter, all that mattered was that they fix it, and Trowa refused to stop until that happened.

He reached up to Wufei's head, cradling it in his hands before undoing the clip and carefully unwinding the bandage, letting it fall away as he stroked Wufei's cheek and examined the strange damage. There were thirteen plugs from ear to ear, running straight across his forehead, and more going around the back of his head. Trowa kissed them all, then continued his trail over the top of Wufei's head, following the horrible lines of it before his hand fell to rest over the plug in the back of Wufei's neck. He was trying to work out how they had done it. Had they drilled holes in Wufei's skull? Had they punctured his brain? Had he been awake?

Hands came up to usher his own away and he forced himself to let go, watching as Wufei climbed in the shower and let the water wash over him, closing his eyes and letting his head fall back, his hair falling in a tangled mess behind him. Trowa's chest ached just looking at him. He was still Wufei, but the evidence of what had been done to him was literally punctured into his very bones.

Dark eyes opened as Wufei turned to look at him, arching one slender brow at him as he shifted across a little.

"Well? Are you getting in?"

Trowa had never taken his clothes off so fast in his life, tossing his t-shirt in the corner and kicking off his pants in its wake. Wufei had closed his eyes again by the time he stepped under the water with him, which left Trowa merely happy that he could watch him without Wufei's hot scrutiny.

Time in the capsule had not been kind to Wufei. His muscle mass was almost non-existent, leaving him small and bony. He'd never been that big to begin with, but the loss of weight highlighted the long, slender lines of his bones; his arms and legs seemed a little too long for his body and his neck was a graceful stalk his head seemed ready to topple off of. It made Trowa smile because even in his ill awkwardness he found Wufei beautiful. His actions were still controlled and precise, his thoughts still clear and accurate. But beneath both there was always that fire.

"I missed you," he murmured and Wufei opened his eyes, a brief smile on his lips. It wasn't a lie. Preventers had lost his interest, and nothing had won it since. He couldn't find anything he wanted to do alone and the only person he'd wanted to do anything with hadn't been there.

"You have no idea," Wufei whispered and arms slid around his waist and pulled him in and Trowa let them. It was his own eyes that slid closed, his own arms came up to wrap around Wufei's shoulders, cradling him close, letting all the dreams he'd harboured for so long bloom anew because maybe it wouldn't be the way he had imagined but Wufei was finally giving it permission to be. At least, he sure as hell hoped that was what was going on because if Wufei was just being a tease Trowa was going to strangle him.

He helped Wufei wash, avoiding getting soap anywhere near the plugs and then he wrapped Wufei in a towel and dried himself off as quickly as possible, pulling his t-shirt and pants back on before going out to get bandages.

Wufei came out in his shorts and the towel, going straight to the bed with slow, pained looking steps, and he sat on the edge, waiting expectantly. Heero got the q-tips and together they got the plugs cleaned and rebound. Trowa made sure he bandaged Wufei's head, caressing the line of inputs on his forehead before covering them in white gauze and pinning it into place before leaning in to place a kiss on his temple. He didn't care that Duo saw and had a stupid look on his face, it was none of his business and it wasn't like Duo didn't know, he'd been the one talking about torches after all.

"I made you a smoothie," Duo said softly, suddenly standing in front of Wufei, holding out a large mug of fruity smelling, creamy liquid. Wufei took it and nodded in thanks and Trowa was forced to leave him to it. Not that he went far, climbing to the other side of the bed and lying down, staring at the Computer and wondering what it felt like, to be inside it. Did you still think the same way or did you have to think in computer commands? Maybe it was like writing a letter to Frank?

Dear Frank,  
>It's just not working out the way I was hoping. I'd like to see the way to the Molecularization Eye now.<p>

Yeah, he didn't think so. He also didn't think it was fair that Wufei kept licking his lips like that after every mouthful. Forcing himself to stare at the ceiling, Trowa waited until Wufei was done before daring to look at him again, amused by how satisfied he looked.

If he'd known all he had to do to put that look on Wufei's face was get naked in the shower with him, they could have done that years ago, but he thought it wiser not to mention this to Wufei. Instead he lay down and entertained himself watching Wufei enjoy himself, and at some point he drifted off, drawn under by his own underlying feeling of satisfaction.

He woke before the lights came up and stared at the small body half draped over his own, pretty sure he hadn't hauled Wufei over himself instead of the blanket during the night, and certain Wufei would have woken and punched him if he had. Which meant Wufei had done it. Smiling, Trowa enjoyed it for a few minutes before forcing himself to extricate and get ready for work. His shower was a quick, hurried affair and he dressed without much attention to detail, not seeing the point when he was just going to have to change into his military uniform when he reached Level 1.

The lights came up as he was putting his shoes on and he watched a little too avidly as Wufei turned into the pillow, hiding his face, body curling a little before he seemed to give up on trying to remain asleep and blearily turned to look around the room. Heero and Duo were already getting up, Duo stumbling for the bathroom, but Trowa had no interest in them. All of his attention was for Wufei.

"You want a smoothie for breakfast?"

"Huh?" Definitely not awake yet and Trowa just smiled and got the fruit out of the fridge, busying himself with the blender while the others went about their business. He felt a strange sense of domesticity and almost laughed at himself because it was the wrong sort of feeling to have when he was in His Room inside Frank with Wufei barely alive. But those things didn't matter, because Wufei _was_ alive, and in his bed. And that mattered.

He handed Wufei the smoothie, complete with straw, and waited a little impatiently for Duo to get done, rolling his eyes when Duo emerged after his third kick at the door still braiding his hair, half of it hanging out of his mouth as he struggled with it. He looked like a lost puppy swallowing it's own tail and unsure why it's butt hurt.

"Not a word, Barton," he grumbled but it was muffled in hair.

"I didn't say a word." But he was thinking more than a few! He grinned as he left His Room, Duo on his heels, restraining himself from saying any of the random well wishing farewells that came to mind. Have a great day, Wufei! Don't plug yourself into too many strange things today, Wufei! Try not to let Frank eat your brains today, Wufei! Try thinking about me instead of how useless you feel and the day will just fly, Wufei! Yeah, definitely a good idea to keep his farewells to himself.

"Stop grinning, you look like you're on crack," Duo grumbled, finishing his braid and tossing it over his shoulder with a sigh of relief.

"You're just jealous."

"Uh, yeah, no! What do I have to be jealous of? I'm happy you're making progress with Wufei, having naughty showers and stuff, but honestly? I've been doin' that for years!"

That too much information line was definitely going to have to be re-established whenever they got off Frank and stopped all living in a small square. For the moment Trowa let it slide with a grimace, though he had to admit his dropping the subject had a lot more to do with them reaching Chinatown's shuttle station and him scouring the temple steps for the familiar orange monk's robes.

"I can't see him," Duo muttered, not hesitating in his steps and waving to a vendor who called out a greeting.

"He's not there," Trowa agreed and sighed. He would just have to stop off when he got off work and see if he couldn't track the man down. Maybe he was on the evening shift. Did monks even have shifts? Were they only required to help others at certain times of the day? What did they do the rest of the day? Meditate? Play foozeball?

They got on the shuttle and Trowa was drawn into a conversation with a businessman who worked on Level 3 who always seemed to be on the morning shuttle with them, but finished earlier in the day so was never there for the evening ride home. He was curious about where they worked and Trowa told him all about recently enlisting and getting to go on his first flight. The man was enthusiastic and asked several questions about what flying was like and if the training was difficult because his son was very interested. He also wanted to know how dangerous it was, and Trowa did his best to sound enthusiastic while dropping hints that he should try to talk his son out of it. Not that military life on Frank was hard, at all, but if they were going to be trying to blow Frank up the kid should possibly look for a job that wasn't going to involve possibly fighting Gundam Pilots in the near future.

They separated, thankfully, as soon as they got off the shuttle and Trowa and Duo moved immediately toward the cafe for breakfast.

"Mr Bloom! And his charming friend," Tracey laughed and Duo bowed low, grinning at her.

"Please, just call me Max."

"Max it is," she agreed and they went to a booth without bothering to order, knowing she would just bring them the usual.

"So. You and Fei."

"Duo..."

"No, you don't get to say it's none of my business because you were more than happy to listen whenever I talked about Heero so now you get to finally return the favour."

"It's not the same thing at all! You were venting and ranting and I just happened to be the poor sod you dumped your moodiness on! I have no need to vent or rant about Wufei!" And especially not to Duo, who would tell Heero, who would just grunt in disinterest, forcing Duo to go tell Quatre instead, who would come and visit Trowa and demand they sit down and have 'a talk'. No way.

"Fine, fine, but...you know I'm here, right? I mean, I think you're good with Fei. He makes you less weird and you don't get bored and..." He shrugged, smiling softly, the kind of smile he only had when he really meant it. "I like when you're at Preventers, with the rest of us."

That made Trowa chuckle, because it probably wasn't a good idea to do a job just because your friends liked having you there, or because you were trailing after your love interest, but he had to admit it was what he had done, and he'd enjoyed it until Wufei wasn't there anymore. And it was true, he wasn't about to let Wufei go do something that could be dangerous without him, especially now. In fact, this entire mess was going to be something he could hold over Wufei's head for life.

Oh look, Wufei, you want to run into that burning building alone? Remember that job interview you went to by yourself that one time, and nearly three years later we had to come fetch you off that psychopathic humanoid colony? It was going to be nice having leverage, and so much of it too!

"If Wufei goes back, I'll follow," Trowa agreed softly, and it was as much of a concession as he was willing to make to Duo's request.

"Yes!" You'd think it was in the bag with how smug Duo looked, but Trowa had to admit the odds were in his favour. Wufei was down, but he wasn't out and as soon as Sally cleared him for duty Trowa knew he'd stick that badge straight back on his fool chest. Because it was the right thing to do, or whatever his argument had been the last time he dragged him along for the ride.

"I gotta go, or I'm gonna be late, just...try and keep your head on your shoulders?"

"Aw, but the Richies don't like me!" Duo pouted and Trowa just rolled his eyes and grabbed his second coffee, hurrying to make the next shuttle to Level 1.

It was the same old routine for the military and Trowa slunk into it gratefully, assuring his boss he was feeling much better and hurrying off to work in his simulator. Only he wasn't working so much as trying to figure out what could be 'wrong' with the pad he knew he had to be the entrance to Hanger 101.

How, exactly, did it work? He looked it up on the mechanics log and saw the long list of attempts to repair it, amused by the frustration evident in many of the mechanics notes. The interesting thing was that nothing at all happened; the ship didn't Molecularize, and neither did it's pilot, which was a good thing since he doubted the pilot wanted to end up floating out in space. But it didn't help Trowa get into Hanger 101.

He read the entire manual on SiS Fighters and Molecularization, then downloaded and read the SiS engineers manual, and then read the entire Molecularization Engineers manual. He had a solid idea of how everything worked and was pretty sure he could repair a damaged SiS-50 or its Pad, but he wasn't sure how to go about not fixing one. Still, he took a gamble and went down to check it out.

No one was there and he figured what the hell and decided to have a go, heading over to the broken Pad and carefully opening the repair access hatch.

He spent the next hour acquainting himself with everything he'd read about in the manual, checking everything was there and that there was nothing extra. There wasn't, just as the mechanics notes had already said. Everything looked brand new, having been replaced over and over in their attempts to repair the non-existent damage.

And that was the key, really. Nothing was damaged. It was all in the software, not the hardware. Trowa downloaded the Pad's data to his laptop and hurried back to his simulator, booting it up and reading through. Everything was just as it should be, as expected, but when he looked at the number associated with the Molecularization he got curious.

He traced the pilot number listed and found a name he didn't recognise, not that he had expected to but something about it was nagging at him, and when he compared the serial numbers the number matched the SiS-50 fighter but also matched a key card for a room on Level 3.

Despite the fact he had no real idea what it would do, Trowa replaced the pilot number with his own. It was a gamble, but if it didn't work he saw no reason he couldn't just rewrite the data again. He still hesitated before going back to the broken pad, looking at his work and hoping he was making the right decision. It wasn't that he was nervous about it working, or not working, it was more the idea of it not quite working right and splattering him across various sections of the station. Or maybe just dumping him out in space. He grabbed an oxygen mask just in case, took a deep breath and told himself to stop being a coward.

If Wufei could plug himself into Frank, Trowa could stand on a Molecularization pad and see where it went.

So that was what he did. He reloaded the software with his small alteration, pushed the fighter off the pad and stepped on, then realised he had no way to make it initialise and sighed heavily. He climbed into the SiS-50, found the initialise switch and pulled the transmitter from the dash, going back down to stand on the Pad and taking yet another deep breath before saying what the hell and letting his thumb push the trigger.

If that was how Heero felt when he self destructed, Trowa almost wished he'd just let the poor bastard die.

The room was spinning, his stomach lurched wildly and he struggled to keep down his coffee and muffin, flailing for a wall and not finding one. He dropped to his knees and took deep breaths, keeping his gaze fixed on his hands because if he closed his eyes the room only seemed to spin more. It took longer than he would have liked, but in time he managed to look up without the dire need to puke and then he just sat back on his heels and stared.

When Nataku had said the first three versions of her had failed, it hadn't really sunk in what that meant. Looking at three half constructed humanoid creatures, one with a heart still beating in its chest while hung there, mouth open and eyes wide, otherwise unmoving, brought the message home loud and clear.

Trowa lost his coffee, and then his muffin. He continued to dry wretch for several minutes before he got his breathing back under control, and then he just sat there, feeling ill while the rest of the room sank in.

A workshop of some sort, clearly the place Nataku had been born but what else? He forced his legs to work and rummaged around, finding pieces of the satellites, but also pieces of Frank. There were several diaries of notes and Trowa took them to read later.

There was a picture of Wufei on the wall, asleep in his capsule and it struck Trowa hard somewhere inside to see it again; to see the pins sticking out in all directions, the cables snaking off into the recesses of the Frank's mind. Had this been the man that did it? Had Nataku's creator been the one to enslave Wufei? Was Nataku his penance?

He forced himself to keep looking but the machines were mysteries he could only hope were explained in the notes the man had kept and after a good hour of looking Trowa gave up. He could come back when he knew what he was looking for, but for now he had at least found it and knew what was here. He went back to the Pad and hit the transmitter, finding himself back in the Hanger and scratching his head.

The mechanic was there, staring at him with wide eyes and Trowa just shrugged.

"Stupid thing took me back to my own stupid Hanger," he said and went to put the transmitter back in the SiS, though he didn't bother plugging it in.

"Still, it worked!" The mechanic noted in awe and Trowa just grinned. "I'll leave it alone for now, and come help you again tomorrow!"

Trowa really hoped not but he nodded enthusiastically and made a hasty retreat, hurrying back to his simulator with the journals and stuffing them in his backpack with his laptop and the few notes he had made, not wanting anyone to drop by his desk and figure out what he had been doing.

He felt ridiculous sitting on his hands waiting for the siren to sound for knock-off and as soon as the familiar sound started blaring he was gone from his cubicle and on the shuttle to get the hell back to His Room and see what fool mischief Wufei had been up to. Unfortunately, the shuttle didn't go any faster and he was haunted all the way to Chinatown by Nataku's follow face, eyes empty, mouth agape, heart still frantically beating.


	12. Chapter 12

12:

An erratic pulse was fast becoming the norm when Trowa walked into His Room to find Duo and Heero ripping up the cables and stuffing them frantically into bags. Trowa could have wasted time trying to get someone to explain what was going on but since time appeared to be of the essence, he grabbed what he could and helped pack it away in the bags.

They didn't appear to be grabbing anything from the fridge and so he left that alone, focussing on things they had brought into Frank, leaving anything that originated here. When he was done he moved to help Wufei get into the white suit he was trying hard to get into, mostly failing miserably. He fetched the black caps and put one on Wufei's head. It would stand out, but not as much as the bandages wrapped around his head.

"What's going on?" He asked at last, watching Heero and Duo grab the bags while he helped Wufei, tempted to just carry him but that would draw attention to them too.

"They're searching Chinatown. They'll reach this Sector in an hour," Wufei mumbled and Trowa hesitated only because Wufei sounded exhausted. He'd obviously plugged himself in again, and it was taking a noticeable toll. He wanted to say it wasn't worth it, but they wouldn't have known to get out if he hadn't so Trowa stayed quiet and helped him down the hallway, heading for the shuttles.

Wufei was shaking, covered in sweat by the time they reached the shuttle port and Trowa checked the times and sighed, because the next shuttle wouldn't get there for fifteen minutes, and he had no idea if that would be too late. He looked around with sharp eyes and his gaze was drawn immediately to orange robes. He met the monk's gaze and the man nodded before hurrying back inside.

"This way," Trowa muttered, not sure this was a good idea at all but taking the gamble. If worst came to worst, and four Gundam pilots couldn't kick one lone monk's ass then the world was coming to an end and they were all going to die anyway.

"The monk?" Wufei sounded completely spent and Trowa just grunted in response, hurrying Wufei up the steps and into the corner he usually watched from. The monk was already there waiting and took Wufei's other arm without being asked, helping to hold him up.

"This way."

Neither Heero nor Duo argued as they rushed in behind them, following the monk to the curtain at the back of the altar, ducking in behind it and blinking at the lack of light inside. It was lit only by candles and split in two directions. The monk led them down the left side, through a warren of paths and through several large storage rooms before they came to a wall that disappeared when he pushed against it, revealing one small room behind it. The hurried in and the monk nodded to them before retreating.

"Is he going to give us away?" Right, Heero, because he could read the monk's mind.

"No need to help us if he was just going to give us up. He could've just left us out there."

"True enough," Duo muttered in response but his eyes were locked on Wufei and Trowa waited for Heero to grab a blanket before lowering him to the floor, crouching down in front of him. Wufei was pale, shaking and his breathing was short and hard. He was obviously trying to fix it himself but the effort of getting there had taken a toll and Trowa knew only time was going to put it right. So he sat down against the wall and pulled Wufei back against him, taking the hat off and tossing it aside so he could lay a soothing hand on Wufei's head. It was testament to how bad he was feeling that he turned into the embrace.

"Here," Heero grabbed a second blanket and tucked it in around Wufei before moving to rummage in one of the bags for his laptop.

"What are you doing?" Duo frowned at him, lying down between them and using one of the bags as a pillow so he could still see everything.

"We still need to finish the transmission and load it onto the transmitter." He cast a look at Wufei and Trowa knew he was wondering if Wufei was going to be in any state to check the transmission over and make sure everything was accurate. But they were out of time, it was tonight or they would have to wait until the next satellite, at risk of discovery every day more they spent there.

They sat in silence and Trowa ignored Heero in favour of running soothing hands down Wufei's arms, down his chest, down his back, rubbing his hip. Wufei didn't protest to a single touch and Trowa realised after a while that he'd passed out and just held him close, relieved when the damp coolness of his skin slowly warmed to something more human.

The monk came in hours later, closing the door behind him and looking down at them. Looking down at Wufei, Trowa realised, his eyes wide and troubled. It made Trowa hold him tighter, accidentally waking him up, earning himself an elbow in the ribs and he forced himself to soften his grip.

"Sorry. I don't mean to..." The monk shook his head and just waved a hand in Wufei's direction. "I'd seen his picture, I never thought...never thought I would actually see him."

"You know me?" Wufei croaked out, frowning up at the monk, very clearly having no idea who he was.

"You're the Origen."

That was already too much information and Trowa wondered if the man knew Heero habitually kept a gun down the back of his pants and understood that with one hand behind his back already he was as good as dead if he tried to leave now. Probably not. Hindsight was so many things. Unfortunately a second chance at life wasn't one of them.

"How do you know that?" Duo asked, trying to remain calm and keep the man talking, one hand landing on Heero's shoulder and staying there, holding him still.

"My brother...he made you. I mean, he made you the Origen? Ah...but he didn't know! I mean, he knew what he was doing, but...he didn't know you hadn't agreed to it. When he found out, it was the biggest regret of his life and he spent everything he had setting it right." He was hesitating with his words, at least a little aware that he was walking a fine line, and it was dangerous on either side.

"Even his life," Duo sighed, putting two and two together easily and sighing glumly. Trowa could understand it; the man who had mutilated Wufei was already dead, and he couldn't even did up his remains to bury him all over again because he'd been blown up.

"Are they still searching?"

"They're nearly done with Chinatown," the monk agreed. "An hour or two and it should be clear."

They nodded and Heero finally put his hands back in his lap so Duo was able to keep his hands to himself.

"Hanger 101 was your brother's workshop," Trowa said softly and the monk nodded. "Why did you send me there?" He couldn't done without seeing the earlier attempts at Nataku. They made him wonder what Wufei would look like now, had it gone wrong somehow.

"The Pad there," the monk grinned softly. "It can be set to take anyone anywhere."

Handy! They all shared a knowing look and Trowa knew he was going to spending a lot more time in Hanger 101 trying to master the Molecularizer there. As long as that fool mechanic didn't do anything stupid like repair the Pad in the main Hanger. He was looking forward to getting off Frank just so he could go back to being unemployed and doing whatever he wanted. For the whole twenty four hours he expected Wufei to let him get away with it.

"Why are you helping us?" Duo looked sceptical and Trowa couldn't blame him. Granted, the guy was wearing an orange robe, but that didn't mean he really was a monk, or that he actually liked to help people. It definitely didn't make him obligated to help them.

"The system killed my brother," the monk replied easily, but he was looking at Wufei now and Trowa realised from the look on Wufei's face that Wufei had approved of the death. In fact, Frank wouldn't have been able to make it happen without Wufei agreeing, and the monk knew it too. But Wufei wasn't apologising, and the monk wasn't asking him to.

"If it could kill when it had a conscience, what will it do without one? My brother believes the System is acting against the best interests of the colonists. I care about these people. When I saw you," he nodded to Trowa. "I recognised you, from the war. I lived here even then, helping my brother build the System, but I watched the news feeds. I knew why you were here."

And he'd made the effort to help, feeling Trowa out and Trowa wasn't sure what had done it, maybe he'd just been waiting for the right time, or maybe it had been him fumbling for a reason to light his candle, but for whatever reason the monk had decided to trust him. Whatever the reason, Trowa was glad.

"How old is the System? You said you were making it during the war?" Duo was frowning, trying to make a timeline in his head and Trowa had to agree it was a tight one when you were thinking of something the size of Frank.

"The colony was being built long before the war started. The men who designed it saw the war coming and decided to make a colony that could remain autonomous. They targeted people who wouldn't talk, and who wanted to avoid conflict. Most people who live here had lost loved ones to wars before and were grateful for the chance to live apart from the world they'd grown to hate. It was finished not long before the war ended."

"But you didn't take Wufei for another two years?"

"The System was completed after the colony launched. My brother realised within months that it was missing something vital and what it was. It took them another year to finish the adjustments and then they began screening possible candidates."

"Why Wufei?"

The monk shrugged having no more idea why than they did and Trowa scowled in annoyance. He wanted to know the names of every person who had thought Wufei would be a good person to stick in their machine, and then he wanted to bring the circus to see them so he could feed them to the lions, figuratively speaking. Maybe.

"Go see if they're done searching," Heero ordered and the monk had enough sense not to hesitate, hurrying from the room to do his bidding. Trowa sighed and stroked Wufei's arm, wondering how he was taking it all but not wanting to ask in front of Duo and Heero, knowing he wouldn't get an honest answer if he did.

"You make the weirdest friends!" Duo gaped at him a little, shaking his head and slumping back into the bags. "Seriously, a monk?"

"Says the guy who introduces himself to the local priest of every Catholic Church he lives within a hundred miles of," Trowa countered and Duo stuck his tongue out at him but admitted defeat.

"Whatever Frank's been planning pre-dates Wufei's entry into the system," Heero noted softly. "Something that prompted the monk's brother to put Wufei into the system."

They sat in silence thinking that over, until the monk returned, a smile on his face as he pointed back the way he had come.

"They're gone. They've left signs everywhere but most people are just tearing them down, I don't think they're really interested in something being stolen from Level 5. People from up there don't really contribute to life on the lower levels and I guess they're paying the price now."

Having the people turn against them was just what they needed and the monk knew it. They weren't grinning about it the way he was, but it was still obvious they were pleased by the news. They got up quickly, Heero and Duo grabbing the bags again while Trowa helped Wufei up and the monk helped, walking them back out to the temple but releasing Wufei at his corner.

"I am sorry, for what my brother did to you. But I am grateful for the service you gave the colony."

Wufei was silent and in time the monk nervously left. Trowa was not surprised when Wufei looked away and he helped him walk down the steps and back toward His Room. It was a slow walk, Wufei still weak after the hurried rush out and Trowa found himself feeling weary as he tugged a notice off his door informing him his room had been inspected and found to be kept in a clean and tidy state. They even thanked him for his cooperation, which he'd never given. He scowled and tugged Wufei inside, helping him onto the bed and going to get the comfortable house shorts and a t-shirt for Wufei and the pants and a shirt for himself.

He helped Wufei change first, tucking him in to bed, not surprised at all when he turned to face the wall and closed his eyes, already falling into sleep. Trowa left him to it and went to have his shower while Heero and Duo unpacked. He noticed they were leaving a lot of it in the bags in case they had to run again.

The shower was a relief, the day catching up with him. He put his hands against the wall and hung his head, letting the water wash through his hair to his scalp as if it could wash away the memory of Hanger 101. He scrubbed himself nearly raw in his need to wash the day off and took the time to comb his hair before going back out to the main room.

Heero went in for a shower next, making Trowa blink because he'd usually had one by the time Trowa got back to His Room. They must really have been caught off guard by the inspection.

He got the journals from his backpack and went to sit on the bed beside Wufei, sighing as he opened the first one and the words swam a little on the page. The man's handwriting wasn't fantastic and he wrote like a scientist, making it a boring read. Duo was watching him curiously but he couldn't even share the load, because Duo wasn't going to be able to help him without getting in to Level 1, which he didn't have authorization for, and who knew where Hanger 101 actually was. He would have suggested Wufei try to find it, but he didn't want Wufei plugging in any more than was completely necessary and it wasn't. Trowa just had to read.

That didn't mean he enjoyed it. The man was a dreamer, in the most annoying sense of the word. Worse, he had the skills to back up his insane ideas. He kept going off on tangents, halting work on his major projects to build a variety of strange devices he was for that week at least convinced would change the way people lived, as if living inside of Frank hadn't already done that. But the next week he would have abandoned the idea, sometimes having completed it and others just changing his mind, and he would be back on task but it was impossible to know when he would be on or off topic so he couldn't even skip over those bits that seemed irrelevant.

"What are these anyway?" Duo asked curiously and Trowa couldn't even say when he had moved and started reading over his shoulder.

"The journals of the monk's brother. I found them in the Hanger."

"...huh. Handy of him to write it all down. Nice fellow," Duo noted sarcastically, and gave up on reading what Trowa could just tell him all about later and went to the kitchenette to find something he could turn into food.

"Bastards!"

Trowa looked up curiously and Duo held up the empty packet of muesli bars, shaking it as if something might actually fall out.

"I can't believe they ate your food!"

Neither could Trowa, and yet he could. They must have been hungry, and since they had no qualms about entering someone's house without permission it wasn't that surprising that they felt equally entitled to eat his food. Still, he thought it said a lot about the kind of people who were running Level 5's operation to get the Origen back.

"I wonder why they don't just tell people what they're looking for. No one would know Wufei hadn't done it voluntarily, they could just spin it the right way and turn us into very bad guys and the whole colony would turn against us."

"Guess they don't want anyone to know how the System works."

"But that's what I don't get. I mean, it's basically the biggest technological breakthrough since the Mobile Dolls. Why not give that to the world?" He was genuinely curious about it, of the opinion most scientists were self serving and desperate to have the world acknowledge their work in some way.

"Maybe they don't want the world to have it?"

That made sense, in a way Duo hadn't intended to and they shared a startled look. If they didn't want the world to have it, that meant they wanted to have something the world didn't. Which could have something to do with whatever Frank was planning.

"Good thinking, Duo."

"Thanks," Duo frowned, well aware he hadn't meant it that way and that Trowa was being annoying.

Heero came out of the shower and came to see what he was reading and Duo related the conversation, receiving little more than a grunt in response. Heero waved a hand at Wufei, a dark frown on his face.

"He keeps trying to do too much. The plugs in his head started leaking blood while he was plugged in today. I don't know what it's doing to him on the inside, but I recommended he stop and he tried to bite my head off."

Trowa was so startled he dropped the journal he was reading and turned to stare at Wufei but the lack of a response told him Wufei really was asleep. He reached out and stroked the bandage around Wufei's head, frowning because the last thing he'd needed was their sudden evacuation on top of a tough day. Worse, he didn't know how to make Wufei stop. How to convince Wufei that he wasn't useless, or a burden and that they didn't need him to help them get him out. What sort of rescue team would they be if they relied on the person they had to rescue to get them out?

"I told you this would happen. If you'd just agreed that the risk was too great he wouldn't have tried it in the first place!"

"And yet, we wouldn't have known they were doing a raid, and they would have found us here and we would've been caught, or had to kill them and now be on the run with no base. Maybe hanging out in the monk's hidey hole," Duo reasoned in Heero's defence and it didn't help at all that he was right.

"Did he say anything about it?"

"Not really. Just said he needed more ports active, that he was too isolated."

That left Trowa flabbergasted, hands clenching as he leant down to pick up the journal, glaring over at Wufei.

"He wants to plug in _more_? He starts bleeding out of his head and his answer is, let me do _more?_" Was he insane? As if Trowa was going to allow that! But Heero had probably said no, this time, as well, and Wufei's response was to bite his head off. Trowa knew him saying no wasn't going to be any more acceptable than Heero saying it, but while he didn't want his head being bitten off he didn't want Wufei hurting himself either.

"What an idiot," Duo grumbled, pouring some canned soup into a saucepan and stirring it until it started to boil. Trowa had to agree with him, Wufei was being a pain and it annoyed him. But he wouldn't be Wufei if he wasn't doing something frustrating.

Heero booted up his laptop and pulled up the transmission, needing to finish it off and he cast a look at Wufei. Trowa also wondered if Wufei was even going to wake up to attempt to read it, let alone catch anything they needed to change. He definitely wasn't letting Heero wake him up to read something he might not have to change anyway.

"Alright if I boot up your laptop and transfer all your files across?" Heero waved a hand at his bag and Trowa just nodded in agreement, forcing himself to focus on the journals again while his anger cooled.

Heero had the laptops running the transfer by the time Duo handed out bowls of soup and Trowa ate it more because he needed the energy for tomorrow than because he was hungry. It was a distraction and he forced himself to put aside the journals to eat it, which made him think about the day.

"Did you find the aviary?"

"Sort of," Duo agreed, rolling his eyes. He'd clearly already related his frustration over the matter to Heero but he sighed and stabbed at his soup with the spoon and elaborated. "I found it. I wasn't allowed in, because I didn't have a special access pass."

"So you just left?" Duo Maxwell did not just give up and leave. Trowa stared at him and waited impatiently for the second half of the story.

"No? I found a back way in, which got me a lot dirtier than your mechanic gig did, I might add!" He waved a hand at Trowa's not so dirty clothes pile a little accusingly.

"And?" He was getting really tired of prompting people to tell him things they should have just told him from the get go, but he knew his annoyance stemmed from things entirely unrelated, namely the sleeping body beside him, so he bit his tongue and just waited.

"And I found a way in, of course. Anyway, there is a small bed of passion flowers, but I couldn't figure out what the deal was. They're in this weird straight line and at first I thought it was leading somewhere but I followed it from end to end and there was nothing at either end. And then I realised they were on a ledge, and I remembered that quote about not letting them pass? And I thought maybe it had something to do with that, since they were sort of making a wall? But there was nothing below the wall, just more grass and plants and stuff." He shrugged, clearly disappointed he hadn't been able to find anything more interesting and went back to eating his soup.

Trowa just sighed and finished his own meal because the aviary really seemed like a lose cause, or at least one that was too difficult to figure out. It was just another thing to keep in mind, that there was a particular flower growing in the aviary that might have something to do with whatever Frank was planning.

Which could be anything. He knew he was tired because he just wanted to punch everything. Instead, he put his empty soup bowl down, picked up the journal and did his homework.

Something kicked him in the side an hour later and Trowa frowned as Wufei woke, a hand going immediately to his head, a clear sign Wufei had a headache. Not that that was all that surprising now he knew blood had been leaking out his brain. It just made him want to wrap the man up in cotton wool and then shake him like crazy.

"Hey."

"Hey," Wufei grumbled, moving around to sit up beside him, leaning a little against his shoulder to see what he was doing, then frowning as he leaned a little closer to get a better look. "Are those journals?"

"Mmm...from the man who made Frank."

"Well, that's creepy," Wufei muttered, picking up one of the older looking ones and flicking through it until he found something that interested him. He read for a few minutes before slamming it shut and tossing it aside, the expression on his face not one Trowa interpreted as good. He made a note of which journal it had been, convinced it talked about Wufei, for later reading.

"Here, you need to look at this," Heero said softly and he put the laptop in Wufei's lap. "The folder's huge, but you can read the breakdown I've attached as the header of the transmission."

Wufei just nodded and looked over at the kitchenette, licking his lips. It was all he had to do for Duo to get up and hurriedly make him a smoothie. Wufei seemed surprised at first, then just settled in to the pillows and started reading. He made a few small changes without even telling Heero and it was almost worth him being awake and doing it to see the increasingly frustrated look on Heero's face every time he heard Wufei's fingers on the keys changing something without knowing what it was. Trowa had no doubt the man would re-read the entire report just to see what Wufei had done.

"This Quatre thing is really bugging me," Wufei muttered, something in the report triggering the response and he looked up at the Computer as if it might give him answers. Or as if he might plug himself in and get them, but he didn't suggest it, which was good because if he had Trowa might just have tied him to the bed for his own good. And maybe just because it would be fun.

"What do you remember of it?"

"That's it, I don't know. I just remember the name...Winner...it was something to do with money."

"Well, he's got enough of that to go around," Duo grumbled and there was a touch of sarcasm in it. Not long ago a news reporter had estimated that if Quatre printed out a hundred dollar bill for every hundred dollars he was indirectly connected to he could wrap Earth in money. Quatre politely corrected the reporter, and reprimanded them asking them to get their facts right before making ridiculous reports, and informed them that he could have wrapped up Jupiter and had a lot to spare. He wasn't shy about the fact he had money, but that was mainly because it was impossible to hide the fact he had it. Trowa just found it all amusing, especially since it was usually his apartment Quatre retreated to when it all got a bit too much.

"Did he do anything weird lately? Lately being...since I went for the job?" Wufei was frowning, clearly not liking that 'recently' involved years of stuff he had no idea had happened.

"You mean other than buy Preventers and subsequently privatise the only law enforcement agency in the world?" Duo scoffed.

"What?" Wufei stared at them all as if they'd grown another head, or as if what Duo had said was a weird joke. Which wasn't that strange an assumption to make, because Duo usually was making weird jokes, this just sadly wasn't one of them.

"Yeah. Technically we all work for Winner now," Duo rolled his eyes. "But don't tell Une that."

"Preventers are privately owned..." Wufei was thinking it through, his frown pulling the bandage further down his forehead, making it look like it was about to swallow his head. Trowa thought it was cute.

"If Quatre dies, who inherits his Empire?"

"No idea. One of his millions of relatives?" Duo shrugged, it clearly not being something he had ever concerned himself with.

"He doesn't actually have that many," Trowa mused, trying to remember who was next in line but he couldn't recall off the top of his head.

"Mmm, no, killing requires a decision from the conscience, I would have known more about it. But if Quatre was discredited..." He was struggling, straining to put the random pieces of someone else's thoughts into order and he rubbed his head, it clearly paining him but didn't complain.

"If Quatre is discredited the United Earth Nations would force him to give up Preventers." Heero seemed to think this was obvious, looking at Wufei and waiting for him to get to the point.

"He'd have to sell it at a loss," Duo noted. "If they let him sell it. Not sure they can legally make him just give it away though."

"Frank has the money to buy it," Wufei whispered, eyes wide.

"Which would give him the only standing army left in the universe, and control of the only other people with weapons and a license to use them," Trowa concluded, wishing he could kick himself for not realising it sooner. Something had changed after the war alright; Frank had realised he was powerful.

"Shit," Duo whispered, coming to the same sorts of conclusions as the rest of them. A world ruled by Frank. A computer in charge of maintaining peace. A machine making the decisions for the preservation of all humankind. It could only end badly, like in all those taking-over-the-world machine movies Duo had made him watch.

"How would anyone discredit Quatre?" Duo sounded as confused about it as Trowa felt. Everything about Frank was out of this world crazy and extreme. It left him feeling exhausted from all the thinking he had to do.

"You start by giving him a few failed missions," Heero noted coldly. "Making it look like his incompetence has gotten good people killed."

"The satellite," Trowa cursed. "We need Quatre taken off the case."

Wufei was already typing, adjusting whatever Heero had written to reflect this new revelation. Even if it turned out they were entirely on the wrong track, Quatre would know to look out and they could avoid total disaster.

"You know," Duo grumbled as he did the washing up. "Frank is starting to piss me off."

"Starting to?" Wufei looked at him, incredulity clear on his face. "You didn't sit through his job interview."


	13. Chapter 13

13:

It seemed infinitely wrong to Trowa that he had to go to work while he was technically at work, but it also seemed to be a side effect of him working at all. Infiltration missions had always been somewhat of a specialty of his and Preventers liked exploiting it, but it always left Trowa annoyed that he had to go do some other chump's job just to do his own.

Worse, this time he was doing someone else's job while Heero and Duo were doing something dangerous, leaving Wufei alone to do something he considered even more dangerous. So he thought he could be forgiven for sitting in his simulator the first two hours being sullen and basically sulking over the fact he'd already pulled one sicky and so couldn't pull another so soon without arousing suspicion, and subsequently had to sit this one out.

Really, anything could go wrong. What if the people working on the satellite were armed? What if they shot Duo or Heero? What if they captured them? What if the satellite was a ploy to try and lure in the Origen and they followed Heero and Duo back to Wufei? What if someone raided Chinatown again while Heero was out and Wufei couldn't get out in time? What if Godzilla suddenly appeared in the middle of the station and stomped on everyone else while he was just sitting in his simulator on Level 1? Yes, he was overreacting, but for the first hour at least he couldn't calm down enough to stop thinking of every little thing that could go wrong, no matter how ridiculous he knew it was.

The only positive side effect was it made him leap at the chance to get out of his simulator and go do something, like take a closer look at the Pad in Hanger 101, so that was what he went to do. He was relieved when the mechanic wasn't there and the Hanger was relatively empty. It seemed to be more of a dumping ground for projects other Hangers had given up on, which suited Trowa just fine. He fetched the transmitter from the SiS and hurried to the Pad, bracing himself for only a second before the nausea hit.

There had to be an easier way to remake yourself, in Trowa's opinion. Despite Nataku saying it got better over time, Trowa wasn't really finding it any easier. He just knew what to expect and that was not the same thing at all, though he was starting to suspect Nataku didn't see a difference. He sighed and sat down, waiting for it to pass before crawling forward and staring at the early attempts at Nataku.

He moved to the most complete one; the one with a heart still beating in its chest and studied it dubiously, watching the way the heart pumped and a thick blue liquid flooded the tubes attached to it, pumping through the torso. He supposed something had gone wrong and its maker hadn't bothered to make the legs. It just made it all the more grotesque, hanging there with its chest open to the world, heart beating, something like blood pumping, but clearly nothing going on upstairs.

He studied the face closely, noticing the similarities to Nataku, but also seeing similarities to Wufei that made him shudder and he reached up to force the lids closed with a relieved sigh. The ports in her head hadn't been capped with the silicone yet and instead showed a small metal plate with the pin hole, ready to be plugged in. Curious, Trowa studied one of the holes on its shoulder and carefully pried the plate away from skin. Or tried to. It was stuck, cauterised in and he ended up fetching a knife from his bag and cutting it loose.

The plate was attached to a core; a slender capsule that held the pin and was covered in a fine array of circuitry. That wasn't what made him shudder. It was the fine spray of feelers that covered the capsule, like roots from a tree just under the skin, attached to muscle and bone and blood in an intricate network he couldn't begin to understand, let alone unravel.

If this was what was under Wufei's skin, there was a good chance the ports couldn't be removed, especially with the maker dead. He left the plug on the shoulder, disturbed by it just hanging there in an explosive mess as if it had blown out her shoulder, but not seeing anything else to do with it.

He moved to the plugs on the head, checking they were all there, then looking at the beating heart curiously before going to fetch his laptop. He knew it was a bad idea, but curiosity had definitely gotten the better of him. He wanted to know more about what was going on with Wufei and this was the best chance he had.

So he built thirteen connectors and a USB hub to receive them, and isolated all his information before connecting his laptop to the System. It acknowledged him as a port and he smirked, pleased with himself. But the hardest part was still to come.

He got out the journals and looked up the notes on the new Nataku, studying the diagrams the man had thankfully drawn and comparing them to the older model he had on hand. The older model was functioning, clearly, but he hadn't managed to merge the biological responses with the System. Her body parts and the Computer worked just fine separately, but she wasn't a good enough replica of the Origen for him to continue so he'd started again.

It worked just fine for Trowa. Effort didn't begin to describe what it took to get the half made body down off its holster and laid out on a table, nor how hard it was to cut open the top of its skull so he could see inside and fix the few things that needed to be adjusted. It definitely didn't begin to describe the horror he felt poking around a brain that was a clone of Wufei's but he pushed his own feelings aside and focussed on getting the job done.

When everything was ready, he sat for a long time staring at it all laid out in front of him, wondering what the hell he thought he was doing. This was really taking Duo's Frankenstein metaphor a little too far, but he reminded himself he was trying to achieve something and stopped thinking.

Just plugged it all in. The ports were old and disused and he had to shove them in hard, cringing at the grate of metal on metal and the soft whine of each pin sliding home. He was sure the feeling would never stop sending a shiver down his spine and through his arms, and pulled away hurriedly when the last one was in.

The lights from the ports glowed a rich red under each plate and Trowa wondered if the silicone caps did more than just protect against infections and the outside world; if maybe the creator had just wanted something to hide the eerie glow just under the surface, to reassure himself his creation was more human than machine.

The connection manager for the USB lit up, running a diagnostic on what it was now connected to and came up with a list of systems and programmes that meant very little to Trowa even having read the journals. He just hoped it was all working and booted up the System, connecting the visual from the model to his laptop and waiting.

Hanger 101 came up on his screen and he grinned, pleased with himself. He was in. He tried a few locations; the cafe, the temple, the shuttle interchange at Level 1 and they all came up just as easily. He tried the aviary and sure enough, there was the line of Passion Flowers Duo had related to them, and he could see nothing Duo had missed, no reason for it to be important at all.

He tried inputting a command for a door to open on a random person's room and smirked when it did, then hurriedly closed it before anyone could notice. This was awesome! He felt like God and spent a few minutes being a dork. He made a shuttle stop and start again before anyone could notice. He made a few more Pads malfunction on Level 1 so the mechanics would be too busy fixing those to even think of looking at the one that led to Hanger 101.

He used Morse code, turning the lights in His Room on and off, wondering if Wufei was awake to notice.

Then he got down to business and accessed the Eye. It had one job logged, to begin in an hour.

So he went back to annoying Wufei with Morse code using the lights.

When it was actually time he pulled up a video of the white room Wufei had found and frowned at the men huddled there against the walls, waiting. Five of them, which wasn't a problem, but were they innocent or guilty? Were they armed? Who did they work for?

Trowa studied them closely and decided which one was in charge. They were all clearly from Level 5, but this one held himself too tall and kept telling people what to do, despite the fact they had clearly all done it before and were merely repeating the process. He also didn't look like a scientist, but more like a businessman and Trowa suspected he was one of the men who had funded the creation of Frank.

He wondered if the man had any idea that Frank wasn't playing on the same team anymore.

A light flickered and the satellite appeared in the room and Trowa wondered why he hadn't expected it to be that big. But the white room was deceiving and it was hard to discern space even when you were standing inside it, so he wasn't surprised he had miscalculated.

The men were on it in minutes, and Trowa wondered waited impatiently as they got the plate attached but before they could pull away, the door opened and something was tossed inside. Heero and his damn gas canisters. How many had he brought anyway? Probably an entire bag...typical. He waited for them to fall, slumping against the walls and then Heero and Duo slunk into the room.

They looked a little ridiculous, truth be told, looking around frantically for anyone who might still be up, stalking their way around to check the unconscious bodies and then hurrying in to attach the transmitter. Trowa found himself laughing at the footage, wondering what Duo would say when he found out he had been on candid camera.

Dude, did my butt look huge?

They got the transmitter attached and were about to leave the room when Heero hurried back and started dragging the bodies into the satellite. Duo started arguing with him, even as he grabbed some poor sod's ankles and helped drag the body to the satellite. Trowa wished he could hear what they were saying and tried to lip read but he was sure he was just making up what they said.

"Heero, we can't just kill them!"

"They know we put something on the satellite. If they tell Frank he'll destroy it before Quatre can get the information."

"But they're innocent people!"

"I don't care. It's for the mission!"

"Oh Heero!"

"Duo."

"Oh Heero!"

He was definitely making it up. He laughed to himself and made sure they got out okay and then the satellite disappeared and the room was empty and he just sighed. How many more people were going to die before they finished this? He didn't think it was a good idea to ask the earlier models of Nataku their opinion on the matter so he just patted its shoulder instead. The good one, without the mess of circuitry pouring out the side.

Relieved so much was going well, and hoping Wufei hadn't strained himself too badly opening those doors, Trowa focussed on what he was actually supposed to be doing; figuring out the Molecularizer. The issue was keeping the Hanger 101 Pad off the grid, beyond Frank's control but he slowly developed two programs that would be able to talk to each other without actually sharing all their information, allowing him to run the System program through Nataku's predecessor and the system for the Pad on his laptop in unison, using the information from the System to dictate what the Pad did.

The issue he had wasn't in getting it to work, though it took a lot of fooling around and checking back on the creator's journals. The issue was he had clocked in at work, and had to clock out, and if he Molecularized himself out of Hanger101, he wouldn't be able to explain how he left Level 1 without clocking back out again.

So he sat down and started on the much more difficult problem of trying to infiltrate the security on Level 1, which Frank had locked down like Fort Knox. Luckily, Trowa had always considered myths like Fort Knox to simply mean there had been no Gundam Pilots around at the time to prove it wasn't that great after all.

It still took him several hours to break in, and another half hour to find his name amongst the many who had clocked in to work that day. He was about to clock himself out when he realised he had another problem. He was still in his uniform.

He sighed heavily and slumped over the table, staring at Nataku's half finished face glumly.

"Why does my life have to be so _hard?__" _

Thankfully, she didn't reply.

He tried to think of a way to go now, but he really was just going to have to steal a uniform and try it tomorrow. Annoyed to have come so far only to have to try again tomorrow, Trowa carefully shut down the programs and went about unplugging the early Nataku. He grit his teeth as the pins ground their way out and then he just stood and stared for a long time at the beating heart in its half constructed chest, reminding himself it was just a clone. It wasn't actually Wufei's heart, and he needed it to keep beating, keep the body 'alive', if that was even the right word for whatever it was, so he could use it. It made him feel dirty, and no different to the men who had put Wufei into Frank to begin with.

He left everything but the laptop, stuffing it in his bag so he could at least work on refining the programs he had made throughout the day, and then he returned to his simulator, apologising to his superior officer for being so late back and explaining he had gotten lost, and then got to talking to one of the other pilots. The man just smiled and said he understood and that he encouraged his men to mingle with others and get to know each other. Trowa grinned at him and scurried off feeling like a prick. The man was a good leader and did a fine job and if he had really been a newly recruited pilot he would have had a fun entry into a new career. As it was, he was just relieved the man wasn't a stickler for detail.

The siren sounded not long after he got back and he hurried out with everyone else, but slipped into the stores while the clerk wasn't looking and snatched two spare uniforms, stuffing them in his bag before clocking out, waving to someone he pretended to know and getting the next shuttle out.

He sat in the corner feeling drained but pleased with the day, and just hoping Wufei hadn't done anything stupid. He thought about it all the way back to Chinatown, then paused and went up the steps to the temple, going to wait in his corner.

It took a while, but the monk came out.

"So, you know who I am..."

The monk smiled and bowed his head in acknowledgement, as if they were just talking about prayers.

"I am Farrar."

"Nice to meet you. I spent a lot of time in your brother's workshop today."

"And soon we won't see you anymore, just as we never saw him," the man chuckled and Trowa found himself actually smiling, shaking his head because while Nataku's predecessors had no doubt fascinated their maker and drawn him back to them time and again, they didn't hold the same allure for Trowa. In fact, if he could he would avoid seeing them again. Ever. They were creepy and gross and he didn't want to think about the duplicate of Wufei's beating heart.

"Your brother was military?"

"For a short while. But he met someone, some sort of prince in hiding, and was convinced that war was not the way. He wanted to pursue peace."

"Yet he worked for the military in Frank."

"It was the only way to hide from the System."

That made Trowa pause, thinking it through and he recalled Heero mentioning the magnetic field and shook his head, wondering why he hadn't thought of it before. Frank could make the upper Levels give orders to Level 1, but he couldn't infiltrate it himself.

"How can the things in Hanger101 work where Frank can't?"

"I am not my brother. I have no idea. But it does. Some sort of bypass I suppose."

Trowa just nodded, because he hadn't really expected the man to know, that would have been too easy and nothing at all about today had been easy. Long, tiring, brain maddening, gut twisting and doable yes, but not easy.

"Have the ports started bleeding yet?"

It was such an extreme change of subject that for a moment Trowa didn't follow it. Then his eyes narrowed and he pinned Farrar with a glare that would have made most men wet themselves. Farrar looked like he might, but he had the advantage of wearing a robe which made it hard to tell if he actually did.

"The withdrawals. They'd be starting about now!"

"What withdrawals?" It hadn't been Wufei overusing the system? Damnit, the man was just going to use this as an excuse to do it even more.

"From the plasma."

"The green stuff he was in?" Trowa was just taking a wild guess, that being the only substance he couldn't now easily identify.

"Yes...It contains a variation of beta-carboline harmala alkaloids."

Which meant absolutely nothing to Trowa and he made sure his frustration was clear on his face. The monk waved his hands apologetically, and struggled to explain.

"It enhances the effect of things impacting the brain! There's other stuff in it, but it boosts the brain's activity to the same level as the System's, among other things. It's also really addictive! He would have had enough left in him to last a few days but by now I would have assumed the withdrawals were starting and I noticed he was shaking last night...that's all!"

Shaking and he'd crashed hard but hadn't said anything. Had likely assumed the same thing as the rest of him, that he was just exhausted from the sudden move. He really had to stop underestimating what Wufei was capable of. Later, after he dealt with the idea of the man being an addict.

"How do I treat it?"

"I don't know, I wouldn't think cold turkey is a good idea?" It wasn't. They didn't have the time or luxury of standing vigil while Wufei tried to axe himself in a drug-desperate stupor.

"Can we get some from somewhere? Ween him off it?"

"Well, you could give him a tea made from the same base ingredient?" The monk was thinking about it and he hurried to the front desk to get pen and paper, scribbling down his notes and handing it over. Trowa scanned it quickly and then froze, feeling his stomach drop and he wanted so badly to laugh because if he didn't he wasn't sure his head wasn't going to explode.

"It's made from the root of the Passion Flower."

"Yes. The flower itself doesn't contain enough to do anything, so you must harvest the roots and leaves!"

"La Pasionara," he murmured to himself, but he had enough sense to thank Farrar and hurry from the temple, heading fast for His Room, mind feeling worn to the bone.

Wufei was a sweating, moaning wreck on the bed, Heero holding him down while Duo paced erratically. Blood was leaking profusely from the ports on his body into the towels someone had put over the bed. Trowa guessed Duo.

"We don't know what's wrong with him! We got back from the satellite and he was like this. It's only getting worse."

"It's withdrawals. Go get me a Passion Flower, Duo. One with lots of roots and leaves!"

Duo froze, mouth open as if to argue until he realised Trowa was serious and that was that. He grabbed his coat and left. Trowa strode to the bed and checked Wufei's vitals, worried about the erratic, faint pulse and the amount of blood he was losing. It was slow, but even two hundred drops a minute was going to add up quick.

"Withdrawals?"

"Farrar...the monk, he just told me about them. Said we should be able to ween him off it with this tea..." He checked the ingredients again and rummaged through the cupboard, finding honey and sugar but needing the chemicals on the list. He handed it over to Heero and took his place holding Wufei down.

"Go get the rest. Steal it, don't buy it."

Heero didn't argue, taking the paper and leaving immediately, leaving Trowa in the quiet of His Room with only Wufei's moans for company. His weariness returned full force and he climbed onto the bed, sitting against the wall and pulled Wufei up against him, wrapping his arms around him and letting them lock into a gentle embrace that rolled with Wufei's struggles, containing him and keeping him safe.

He grew lucid at some point that felt like hours later but Trowa knew was far less time. Trowa kissed Wufei's forehead and waited while Wufei struggled to turn his head to look at him.

"Shhh. Just relax. Focus on breathing, you're good at that."

"What happened..."

"You're going through withdrawals. From a drug that was in the capsule with you. We're working on making one of our own, it's just going to be a little longer."

Wufei listened and responded with breathless, pained laughter that nearly broke Trowa. He forced himself to hold on, as the lucidity passed and Wufei struggled again, leaving bruises in the wake of his flung arms and legs but Trowa didn't feel any of it.

Instead, he busied himself with thinking about the programs he needed to polish, and things he could add to improve them, and security measures he could put in place. Anything to avoid thinking about the things that actually mattered. Because if he had to think about Wufei where Nataku was now he was going to crack.

"Got it," Heero came in, dumping several packets on the bench and quickly dolling out what they needed into the blender before putting the kettle on to boil. Duo wasn't far behind him, rushing in covered in dirt and grease and grime from head to toe, a large plant in a bucket of soil. They put it in the sink and carefully picked some leaves and dug for roots, following the instructions on the paper while Wufei struggled feebly against him. Trowa had never thought he would be grateful for Wufei not being in peak condition.

"Looks like he smacked you a good one on the jaw," Duo muttered and Trowa sighed, wondering how bad it was if it was already dark enough for Duo to see. Worse, he wondered what they would say at work. He busied himself trying to come up with a cover story. Bar fight? Did they even have bars here? Did anyone fight? Not a good option. Slipped in the shower? They had showers, and he could slip, if he was distracted, but there wasn't anything in there to hit his head on. Slipped getting out of the shower? Stumbled into the refrigerator...couldn't have done it if he tried. Perfect.

The scent of the passion flower was pleasant; a melon like sweetness that filled the room as they boiled the root and slowly broke down the properties in the blender. The tea looked horrendous; a dark greenish tint with a greasy texture, much like the goo they'd originally pulled Wufei from. That was the only reason they had for believing they'd made it correctly and Heero wasted no time prying Wufei's jaw open and pouring it slowly down his throat.

It took a while for Wufei to respond, but his flailing slowly subsided and he fell asleep soon after, leaving Trowa with him sprawled across his lip, bloodied and sweat soaked towels tangled around them. He sighed and hefted himself free, going straight to the shower, of the opinion he had more than earned his five minutes.

He took a lot more than five, and by the time he emerged in clean clothes Heero and Duo had changed the towels Wufei was on and put a blanket over him. He nodded to them in thanks and Duo just smiled and headed for a shower of his own.

"What did you do anyway? Did your way into the aviary?"

"Something like that," Duo called through the door and Trowa shook his head but didn't push further. However Duo had done it, he was grateful.

Heero surprised him by holding out a bag of peas and pointing to his jaw and Trowa obediently put them against the dark bruise, sitting down on the floor, back propped against the bed, and getting out his laptop because now that the drama was over he had more work to do.

"The satellite was successful."

"I know. I watched the whole thing."

He was so worn he couldn't even enjoy the startled look on Heero's face. Instead, he explained what he had been up to all day, and the programs he had made to achieve it, and what he had planned for tomorrow. He was unspeakably grateful when Heero sat down beside him and pointed out more changes he could make, and when Duo came out he joined them, getting excited and trying to make it bigger and better until Trowa had to point out that he just wanted it to work, not make a lifelong commitment to its perfection.

It was nice, to be reminded he wasn't there alone, that they were in it together. It was something he found himself forgetting when he was alone in Hanger101 and he wondered if Farrar's brother had forgotten he had family, if he'd stopped coming out of his room and become entirely absorbed in his work without ever knowing how lonely he was. It was depressing and he resolved to take some kind of reminder with him tomorrow.

"Why do you think Frank told us about the Passion Flower?" Duo had a frown on his face that pulled his eyebrows down strangely and made Trowa laugh, maybe because he needed to laugh at something, or maybe because it really did look oddly cute. It won him a glare, but he just shrugged, not caring.

"Maybe because our only other option would have been to put Wufei back in?"

Trowa did not see how that would have been their only other option. Wufei would have made it though, they would have just been dealing with an addict's withdrawals, losing time on their other projects. Only Wufei might not have gotten any better, still might not get any better, and if he'd been close to death and there really had been no other choice he couldn't say he wouldn't have taken Wufei back himself and plugged him in.

"Why doesn't he want Wufei?" Duo asked and they all found themselves tilting their heads back to study Wufei as if he might wake and give them an answer. He didn't, and Trowa got a crick in his neck and had to drop his head hard to each side to get it out.

"Maybe it has something to do with why they chose Wufei in the first place?" Heero suggested softly, but it was clear he just thought it was an idea and not that actual answer.

"Great. Guess we're not going to know the answer to that one in a hurry," Duo rolled his eyes and just arched a brow at the glare he got from Trowa. "What, he's not exactly the fountain of straight answers right now!"

"Neither would you be!" Trowa protested, annoyed that they were expecting small miracles instead of counting blessings. Farrar would have had something smart to say about that.

"Doesn't change the fact we don't know the answer," Duo countered, getting up and going to rummage in the cupboard for something to eat. He sighed when he didn't find anything and looked at Heero expectantly.

"Wanna come get take out with me?"

"Yeah, sure." It wasn't like they had anything better to do besides wait for Quatre to try and get a response to them.

"You want anything Tro?"

Yes, actually. I want Wufei off the drugs, with the plugs out and everything back to normal, and I want my body corporate to let me keep a pet elephant. Think you can arrange that.

"Definitely hungry. Just grab me something big."

And he was alone again, without even moans for company.


	14. Chapter 14

14:

Not much time had passed when Wufei woke again, sitting up quietly and looking down at Trowa on the floor. Trowa looked back, wondering how he managed to look appealing despite the sweat still cooling on his skin and the ragged disarray of greasy, unwashed hair. He looked tired and Trowa just wanted to hold him and maybe wash away some of the haunted look in dark eyes.

"Hey."

"Hey," Wufei spoke softly, hesitating before moving across in the bed, making room for Trowa if he wanted it, which he did. "So...I'm an addict?" Trowa didn't bother replying because it was pretty clear that was the case and he wasn't sure how to make that any easier on someone who had always been rather fanatical about their health.

"What am I addicted to?"

"Passion Flowers," Trowa remarked, still a little amused that Wufei was essentially addicted to the root of a flower. "It's the main ingredient in the stuff they had you on in the capsule. Apparently it heightens what you're capable of when you're plugged in." Basically.

"Great." Trowa didn't see what was so great about it, and by the look on Wufei's face he didn't either. Trowa sighed and pulled him in against his side, warmed when Wufei let him and leant his head on his shoulder.

"Did I do that?" Wufei brushed the back of his hand against Trowa's jaw and Trowa just smiled, nodding in response.

"I probably deserved it." He won a light laugh at least.

They were quiet for a long time and Trowa was content to stay that way but Wufei had other ideas, pulling back to look at him with a serious frown. Trowa tried to think of something he had done recently but nothing he thought of would have put a frown there so he just stared back and waited.

"So."

"So," Trowa agreed, having absolutely no idea what was going on.

"You want me to give us a chance?"

The Morse code. Trowa laughed hard, delighted and shrugged lazily because he didn't regret it at all. Instead he just looked at Wufei expectantly and waited because he'd been waiting a long time for this answer. Wufei was quiet, just looking at him until Trowa started to get impatient and Trowa knew Wufei knew when he did because he smirked but Trowa didn't get the chance to say anything because Wufei slid a hand around the back of his neck and pulled him closer and Trowa felt ready to burst, holding his breath because he had been waiting for this for so. Damn. Long.

"We got Indian, hope lentil curry is okay with you?"

Trowa was up immediately, striding to the door and pushing Duo and Heero back into the hallway.

"Tro! What the hell..."

"Five minutes!" He snapped, closing the door and putting the lock on just in case, then he strode back to the bed, leaned forward and waited expectantly.

Wufei blinked at him, then just laughed and reached for him again, the hand on the back of his neck feeling far too good and then nothing else mattered because Wufei was kissing him and it was the order of it that mattered. Wufei was kissing him, because it was what he wanted and because finally! Finally he was saying yes. Trowa sank onto the bed and his own arms finally came up, closing around Wufei and pulling him closer, deepening the kiss, making sure Wufei wouldn't regret it. Would remember this moment right now and know he'd been an idiot for resisting so long.

When he finally pulled back to see his face, Trowa knew Wufei had gotten the message loud and clear. He stroked his cheek and leaned in for one more, quick kiss, then went to let Duo and Heero in, smirking at them as he stepped aside, the door open.

"You look like..." Duo frowned, going in and then the words died and Trowa knew he knew, or suspected, but he didn't say anything just held up the bags of take out. "We've got Indian!"

Like he hadn't said that before. Trowa just shrugged at Heero's glare, not caring in the least and closed the door, going to get bowls and help Duo dish up before going straight back to the bed, handing Wufei a bowl and sitting beside him, thrilled to have a reason to shift closer so Wufei's thigh was pressed against his own.

The Indian was good but Trowa knew at least part of his enjoyment of it had nothing at all to do with the food. He probably looked like an idiot but he didn't care. He even had seconds, and didn't care that Duo laughed at him. When he was done and the dishes were in the sink, he relaxed back against the pillows and pulled Wufei in against him, letting Heero boot up his laptop and look at the programs he needed to improve.

"Oh, oh, I had an idea for this bit!" Duo rushed over and sat with Wufei and they sat doing his work for him, and Trowa decided he was going to have to bring his work home with him more often. He had no idea when he fell asleep, and no one woke him.

The lights came up in the morning but it was Wufei leaning heavily on his chest as he struggled to get off him that woke Trowa. He gasped when Wufei practically punched him in the guts and grabbed him by the elbows, carefully lifting him off so he could sit up, rubbing his stomach wryly.

"Sorry," Wufei mumbled but Trowa just shook his head because he didn't mind it all. It meant Wufei had slept on him, and he wasn't about to complain about that. He tucked Wufei's hair behind his ear and got up, heading for the shower and going quickly through his morning routine. It was annoyingly difficult to focus on what he had to get done today when he kept looking at the shower and remembering Wufei in it, naked.

The bruise on his jaw was startling, he hadn't realised Wufei had hit him that hard and he poked at the rich purple, estimating two weeks at least before he could expect to look human again. It was going to be hard to explain, but he still liked his smashed his head on the fridge idea.

He forced himself to get dressed and went out, towelling his hair dry as Duo ducked into the bathroom. Trowa looked down at Heero curiously.

"What's he in such a hurry for?"

"Wants a muffin for breakfast," Heero grunted, sounding as confused as Trowa felt, except that Trowa knew Duo was going to ask all sorts of questions about Wufei and he thought they'd already established he wasn't talking to Duo about this.

"You're in trouble," Wufei sing-songed from his place on the bed and Trowa tossed Duo's teddy at him before following it across the room to the bed and leaning down to be face to face with Wufei.

"Stay out of the System today." He made it sound cryptic deliberately, hoping that Wufei would think something he might do in Hanger101 could affect him if he was plugged in, and really Trowa didn't know that it wouldn't, but it was just an excuse to make himself worry less about Wufei being plugged in.

"Okay," Wufei agreed after a minute, sighing as he gave in and Trowa rewarded him with a quick kiss in the corner of his mouth, smirking at the startled look Wufei gave him in response, not to mention the one on Heero's face when he turned around, ready to go.

"Tell him I'll meet him on the shuttle, I want to try and catch Farrar," he told Heero as he grabbed his backpack, but he hesitated at the door and looked sternly back at Wufei.

"You agreed. No System!" And he left it at that.

Farrar was nowhere to be seen at the temple, so Trowa went and fetched his fortune before going to catch the shuttle. Duo ran on just as the doors were closing and Trowa just sighed. He'd been hoping he would miss this one and have to catch the next one.

"Did you...did you buy your fortune?" Duo laughed at him and Trowa just waggled his piece of paper at him before actually going about reading it.

Cryptic and irrelevant didn't begin to cover it, Trowa wasn't sure it was even all written in the one language, but it mentioned 'good loving' so he decided it was good. He gave it to Duo and let him laugh about it all the way to Level 3 and the interchange cafe.

"So, Wufei huh...Not like we didn't all know but I didn't think he'd ever let you convince him. It was like he was trying to prove he could say no to you or something," Duo was still laughing as he opened the cafe door and let Trowa duck in underneath.

"Hi!" Tracey called out. "Coffee and muffins?"

"Yes please, oh beautiful waitress!" Duo agreed, going straight for a booth since they really didn't seem to need to actually order any more. Trowa followed and sat down heavily, not liking the idea of revealing anything to Duo but realising he was going to have to say something. Duo-puppies didn't generally let go of bones once they had a good hold.

"I might have...used the System in Hanger101 to...flicker the lights in Morse Code and...ask him to give us a try." He was not telling Duo that he had put an 'I just want you' on the end of it.

Duo was actually speechless and then an odd sound escaped him before he smothered it with his hands, eyes wide and far too excited.

"Oh my god, that's so freakin ...adorable!" He was laughing. Great, Duo Maxwell was laughing at his confession. He didn't care, because it had worked and Wufei had agreed to finally just try and Trowa would make sure he kept trying until they worked so well even Wufei wouldn't be about to deny him.

"I think it's good," Duo finally said, looking more sincere than he usually did, which probably meant he meant it more than usual. Which was nice, really. Trowa didn't respond though, distracted by Tracey bringing the coffee over.

"Oh my gosh! What happened to your face?" She was staring at him in horror and Trowa plastered his best sheepish grin on his face and rubbed at it as if it didn't hurt at all, which it hadn't until he had to go and touch it to make it look like it didn't.

"Slipped getting out of the shower, tried to catch my balance and managed to get out of the bathroom only to slip and smash my head on the fridge."

"Oh my god! It looks horrible!" Thank you. Thank you so much for pointing that out. Loudly and clearly and without any remorse whatsoever. Your truthfulness is truly valued.

"Yeah. Stupid me!" He laughed it off and she shook her head and went back to work, admonishing him to be more careful next time. As if he hadn't been the first time. Accidents just happened sometimes! He took a grumpy bite out of his muffin and glared at Duo across the table, hating how amused he looked by the whole affair.

"You want me to drag Heero out to dinner tonight or something? Give you some alone time?"

Trowa frowned because he did actually want that, but he didn't want to admit it, and it would be so blatantly obvious to Wufei what was going on that it would likely backfire and he'd change his mind and be stubborn and not give them a chance after all. Trowa wouldn't let him get away with it, of course, but the dinner would be ruined either way and he just shook his head.

"Yeah, you're right...Wufei wouldn't go for it at all."

They sat quietly shaking their heads together until Trowa had to go, then Duo skipped out ahead of him for a change, promising to make sure Wufei behaved and Trowa headed for Level 1.

All of his plans for the day were blown out of the water when he was put on Scout duty. Tempting as it was to try to get out of it when they fussed over his injured jaw, he didn't want to look like a complete pansy and assured them it was just a stupid bruise from an equally stupid accident. He didn't mind, because he got to fly the SiS-50, which was incredible, but it put off his testing the Molecularizer until the afternoon.

It did mean he had plenty of time to read the journals and he didn't waste the opportunity. The more he read the more he was convinced the creator had to have been completely insane. His ideas were out of this world, but to most people would have been clearly impossible. Just because he actually managed to make the strange things he dreamed of didn't, in Trowa's opinion, absolve him of suffering a lack of sanity. Actually he thought it made the man all the more nuts.

Trowa also suspected the man had been in love with his creation. Knowing Nataku had been made from Wufei's cloned organs, that just left Wufei feeling awkward and a little ill. He wasn't feeling any better by the time he actually got to Hanger101, but he blamed that on the series of three Re-Molecularizations in far too short a period of time. He sat on the floor of the Hanger for a long time before he forced himself to crawl off the Pad to the desk and set up his laptop.

Nataku's predecessor had somehow managed to open her eyes again and Trowa quickly closed them, sighing as he sat down at the table and stared at her half made body.

"You need a name," he told her. "Thinking about you is hard without knowing what to call you." He stared at her, half expecting her to open her eyes again and tell him her name. Of course, that didn't actually happen.

"How about...Hatty." She didn't protest so he took her silence for approval and went about plugging her in.

It was easier this time, to get it all working, and Trowa wondered if it was a testament to his skills or stupidity that that was the case. Not that it mattered. He tested the system out by returning to the aviary, immediately finding the missing plant Duo had stolen and laughing softly at the yellow tape that had been put up around it. A crime scene. Really? But if they were lucky it would work in their favour. If people started thinking their homes were being invaded because someone stole a plant from Level 5, that was very different to stealing say...the Origen.

But they'd put what looked like a security detail at each entrance as well, and while Trowa had confidence Duo could still infiltrate the aviary, he would rather the need didn't arise. Which meant taking care of the plant they had. Maybe if he made it clear caring for the plant was Wufei's job the man would be distracted enough by it not to think of plugging in. Wishful thinking, but it was better than nothing.

"I wonder what effect Passion Flowers would have on you, hmm?" He was talking to a half made robot. He hoped it wasn't an early sign of insanity, because it felt like it should be. But it was a good question. The brain wasn't fully functional and he was almost certain parts of it were dead, but blood was still pumping through it, or an imitation of blood, and the brain was still capable of plugging in and letting him use the System, which meant there was still a large active part. He couldn't get Hatty to drink the tea they had made Wufei, but there would have to be some way to make it work. Maybe Farrar knew, though Trowa doubted it, the man seemed capable only of expounding on his brother's achievements without having any real understanding of them himself.

He had to open the Pad to attach a transmitter from the laptop that would allow him to program different DNA and locations so he opened the hatch and sat on the edge while he took apart sections of the Pad and went about installing a secondary transmitter. The networking for it was already there and Trowa suspected there had already been a secondary unit, hence how Farrar knew about it, but the creator had gotten paranoid and ditched it.

Why did scientists always get paranoid the closer they got to reaching their goal? If they stopped trying to achieve so much, would they stay sane? He thought of the men who had built the Gundams and doubted it. Each achievement had just bolstered their egos until it was hard to tell if they were insane or really trying to take over the world. Or just old and bored, which was just as likely. Old men were dangerous creatures.

"So Hatty...the guy I like has finally agreed to go out with me." Yes, he was talking to Hatty, because she wasn't going to phone every other person they knew and tell them all about it, and if he said something stupid he wouldn't spend the rest of his life regretting it. Also, Hatty wasn't likely to give him stupid advice.

"But he's pretty busted up right now, and it's hard to know if I should push his buttons or let him do the pushing. But I'm worried that if I don't push he'll think I've lost interest, which isn't true. But if I push he might get cold feet and pull out. What do you think? Push or hold off?"

Nothing. She didn't so much as twitch, but he fancied her breathing got heavier and he laughed.

"Yeah, I think push too. If he gets angry, well...that's just hot." And it was. There'd been many a time in those first weeks after Wufei convinced him to go work at Preventers that Trowa had, at the time out of pure boredom, pushed every one of Wufei's buttons until the man exploded with fury. Just so he could see it, because that much passion for anything, even when it was anger pointed at him, was intoxicating. Trowa hadn't understood it for a long time, hadn't understood how anyone could get that worked up over anything that they just lost all control and raged for hours, but he'd learnt to enjoy it. To crave seeing it, and after a while that craving became a longing that taught him to understand it because he finally felt it for himself. For Wufei.

Quatre had laughed at him for days when he came to have a jam and figured it out. Then he'd tried to help him plan Wufei's seduction, as if he couldn't plan it on his own. That hadn't even been close to the most insulting or humiliating part of that particular visit.

"He just makes me so...mad! All the things I love about him, all the things that mean I can't let go are the reasons he does things that are dangerous and stupid and piss me the hell off! Plugging himself in to Frank? What the hell does he think he's doing, that's insane! He'll end up like you if he's not careful, with half a brain turned to mush and weird ass blue blood! And his legs'll probably fall off too!" Not that Hatty's had fallen off but fact had ever been a victim of venting.

He got the transmitter attached and rubbed a tired hand across his jaw, hissing as he remembered the dark bruise purpling it and its cause.

"And then I try and help the guy and he clocks me in the mouth. I know, right? Completely not charming at all! And Duo thought we could have some sort of romantic dinner! As if Wufei would just sit there and eat. He'd probably demand he get to do paperwork at the table." Okay, so he wasn't that bad and he would probably actually enjoy a private dinner for the two of them, but not until they were home and Wufei felt they were back on equal footing.

He returned to the laptop and fired up the transmitter, grinning when everything worked as planned. Then he looked around the room and tried to think of something he could send before sending himself and grabbed his backpack, taking out his notepad and scribbling a note to Wufei on it.

Look away from the Computer. You are not plugging in. Go water the plant.

He put it on the Pad and went back to the laptop, running the analyser and loading the molecular structure of the notepad and ink, then he took a deep breath, waved goodbye and sent it.

The pad disappeared and Trowa had Hatty help him pick up footage of His Room. The problem was, it was blocked.

"Frank...why do you make everything harder, even when you're trying to make everything easier?" Frank had no doubt done it so no one could accidentally spy on what was going on in His Room during the rescue effort, but now it was just annoying.

So he used Hatty to link to his Message Board, forcing it to activate.

"Trowa?"

He couldn't just talk, which took some adjusting to. He still tried to speak the first few times, annoyed when it didn't show up on his screen and he realised he hadn't uploaded the vocal program from Frank. Which he didn't really need to do, since it definitely wasn't an essential program. He'd just gotten used to the convenience of it.

'Wufei.' Typed. He wished he could pick a nicer font.

"Got your note."

'Great. That's all I needed to know.'

But he waited for a response anyway, and when there wasn't one felt a small rush of disappointment. No come home safe or don't get hurt, no are you okay or what are you doing. Just the mission. That was Wufei. But Trowa would train that out of him, slowly but surely, and for now he continued to bask in the fact Wufei had said yes at all.

"So...the real question is, can I unplug you and still Molecularize where I need to go?" He looked expectantly at Hatty and when she didn't reply went to fetch the journals and his mechanics manual for the Pads, flipping them both open to about where he recalled reading up on programming a destination and DNA specifics and finding a section on isolating the Molecularization from the System, which he knew had to work because Frank didn't single-handedly control Level 1, which was full of the damn things.

It took much longer than he was expecting to get his own profile loaded into the system and had to sit on the Pad with all his belongings while the laptop ran the application, making sure he had everything he wanted to take with him. It took so long that when he was finally able to get up again and set everything to go there were new messages on his message board, and he smiled.

'Hope you're doing okay. Duo's making a feast and says you have to be back before seven.'

It was as close to concern as Wufei got and Trowa felt giddy just reading the words. He hurriedly unplugged Hatty, apologising every time a pin grated particularly hard and set the laptop to switch the Pad back to its original configuration in an hour so he could get back in to the Hanger in the morning.

Pushing the button to activate the process was a little harder than just standing on the Pad and going for it. He had no idea if he was really going to end up in his room, and he was taking a gamble that no one was in the shower and he wasn't about to merge with Heero as a giant Treero for the rest of his existence of until someone found a way to separate their molecules, which was unlikely since the creator and Frank hadn't shared their knowledge with the rest of the universe.

That, and four Re-Molecularizations in a day was going to diminish his appetite substantially. And what if all this flitting in and out of existence really was damaging his bits and pieces? He was having every test known to man done when he got home.

He pressed the button and the next thing he knew he was sliding down the shower wall, clutching his head and trying not to puke, even if he was in the ideal place for it. The door opened and Heero stuck his head in curiously.

"You made it." No need to sound so enthusiastic, Heero! I only defied all the realms of impossibility and became a scientific genius overnight! Heero didn't help him out of the shower, and Trowa didn't really want his help. He just wanted to sit for a while and get his head to start communicating with his body again.

"Everyone says it feels horrible," Wufei said softly and Trowa wondered when he had come into the bathroom but the door was closed and he was sitting just outside the shower door, watching him. Trowa shrugged because there was no denying it, and no need to.

"No worse than being plugged into Frank I would imagine," he noted in amusement, remembering the fountain of green sludge that had sprayed out of Wufei and thinking his weak stomach was faring far better.

"No, I don't suppose it would be," Wufei laughed softly. "The uniform suits you."

Trowa wasn't sure what he meant at first until he remembered he was in the military uniform and he smirked, shifting to his knees so he could lean in closer to Wufei.

"That implies some things don't suit me." They both knew he was in no way hurt the way he sounded.

"I didn't say that. I just think uniforms suit you."

Trowa momentarily wondered if there hadn't been an ulterior motive to Wufei talking everyone they knew into joining Preventers and then shook his head, because Wufei wasn't that much of a pervert. Much to Trowa's chagrin.

"I think taking it off suits me," Wufei continued, reaching out to grab the zip up the middle of the flight jumpsuit and tugging it down. Trowa gaped a little but let him do whatever he wanted. If Wufei wanted to undress him, he wasn't about to protest. Instead his own hands reached out to once again unwrap Wufei, feeling like all his Christmas's had come at once as he revealed strip after strip of pale flesh.

It was just a shower, each helping the other wash the day from weary bodies, but Trowa felt closer than ever to a goal he'd thought out of his reach forever and it made all the small achievements of his day pale in comparison. Hatty would have been so happy for him.

"I was worried about you," Wufei admitted softly, the words so thin Trowa barely caught them, but when he did he tucked them away deep in his chest in a cage for things Wufei didn't like to admit he had said.

"That makes two of us. You didn't..."

"I said I wouldn't." And that really was answer enough. Trowa breathed a sigh of relief and stroked his thumb over one of the ports on Wufei's temple, finding his fascination with them growing each day, particularly now he knew a little more about how they worked.

"Do they hurt?"

"Not really. Hurt when they did it, but not after."

"So you were awake..."

"Not exactly. I'm not sure...I just remember the pain, more a feeling than anything." He shrugged, clearly not caring enough to follow the line of thought and if he didn't want to relive it Trowa certainly wasn't going to make him.

"Thank you. For taking the day off." As if he was expected to work at all right now. Only Wufei expected that, but Trowa was no less delighted that Wufei had taken his request to heart and followed through on it.

"I didn't have much choice. Maxwell spent the whole day panicking every time I so much as twitched and forcing that awful tea down my throat!"

Trowa laughed and hugged him close, soaking up the feeling of relaxing after a day at the office, coming home to Wufei and sharing the days experiences with someone who mattered. They weren't home, and he hadn't exactly been at the office all day, but the feeling was there.

Unfortunately the process of putting on the bandages wasn't nearly as fun as taking them off. By the time they had Wufei re-wrapped Duo was serving dinner, one of the blankets laid out on the floor like a picnic.

"Duo..." It wasn't a romantic dinner for two, but a friendly dinner for four was almost better. Duo just grinned knowingly and tugged Wufei down beside him, pointing at the array of food eagerly.

"Dig in! We can talk shop later." Trowa couldn't agree more.


	15. Chapter 15

15:

Talking shop basically involved them taking a lot of guesses about how long it would take Quatre to read all the information they had sent, file a report with Une and have her send out a team to get them. From there, it descended into an argument about what their mission was, exactly. Whether their first priority should be getting off the station or whether it should be discovering exactly what Frank was up to, if he was indeed trying to get control of Preventers and maybe make some sort of universal debut as the ruling force over humanity. Trowa and Duo just wanted to jump ship, Heero and Wufei wanted to kill the beast.

In the end, Heero convinced them to do as much as possible before the Preventers team arrived, if it was even coming, which basically meant they had to keep doing what they were already doing. Only, do more as well. Duo was going to infiltrate Level 5 and figure out who the heads of Frank were, what they did for a living, and try and find some leverage over them. Heero was going to work with Wufei to access Frank, which Trowa thought was an epically stupid idea. And Trowa was going to continue his work in Hanger101, making sure they had a way out of Frank when the time came. He was content with his own role, at least.

But it had the strange side effect of making him very reluctant to leave the next morning. He lingered in bed, letting Duo shower first, and just lay, fingers lazily stroking Wufei's hip, watching him watch him back, wondering for the first time what it would be like to lose this now he finally had it. If Wufei was wondering the same thing, he gave no clue.

Duo stumbling out of the shower, hair a mess over one shoulder, one hand holding his towel on and the other stabbing Heero with a hairbrush got Trowa moving. Seeing Heero Yuy, of all people, being domestic was not helping his mood at all and he showered with hurried efficiency, dressing hap-hazardly and stuffing what he needed for the day into his backpack.

Duo wasn't ready to go at all, so Trowa made Wufei a pot of tea and left it on the stove to keep warm, taking a cup over to him, amused when Wufei insisted on fluffing his own pillows and getting himself sitting comfortably. He was getting stronger every day and Trowa knew he had to be working at it during the day while he was away. It only made him proud because Wufei was right, he never ran away.

"Just...be careful?" He pleaded softly, brushing the back of his fingers over the bandage on Wufei's head so there was no mistaking what he was talking about. Wufei just nodded and took the tea and Trowa wondered how careful you could really be when you were sticking pins in your head and connecting to a monster computer with its own agenda. But he was outnumbered in the debate for whether Wufei continued to do it or not, so he had no choice but to sit back and let it happen. Wufei would do what Wufei wanted to do.

He stole a quick kiss while Duo was hurriedly pulling his boots on, grabbing his own bag of goodies and whispering something to Heero. Trowa couldn't really imagine Heero putting up with someone whispering sweet nothings in his ear, but Duo got a free pass on a lot of things, so he wasn't completely ruling out the possibility.

Then it was the morning shuttle and cafe routine and by the time Trowa got to his simulator he already felt tired because Tracey had talked their ears off about the Level 5 idiots causing all that fuss over a stolen flower. Sometimes things really did just work out right in the end. Duo was so blown away by the news Tracey felt compelled to sit with them for a good twenty minutes talking all about it and Trowa knew Duo was gathering intel on the situation, but he was also just lapping it up. Once a thief, always a thief.

He stared at the simulator controls in a stupor and when his superior officer came to check on how he was going the man laughed at the bags under his eyes, saying they matched the bruise on his jaw and that he knew getting to fly was exciting but that he should try sleeping sometime. It was good too apparently! Who knew.

He snuck away the first chance he got and went to Hanger101.

Hatty's eyes were open again and Trowa frowned at her, reaching out to push them closed. She wasn't even plugged in, so her having muscle function was more than a little disturbing. He plugged in his laptop and booted it up, then went about the process of getting Hatty connected. It was getting easier, and made his stomach turn less and he thought that was a bad sign but there was nothing he could do about it right now.

Everything started just as it should and he breathed a heavy sigh of relief, logging in to his message board and writing Wufei a message, being more careful with what he said than he would have liked because Heero was there.

'Good Morning, Wufei. I'm just hanging out with Hatty, we're having a great time. Don't forget to water the plant and drink lots of tea.'

But not too much tea, they were going to have to start weening him off it soon, but he was putting it off because he didn't want to watch Wufei suffering a little more each day. But soon...soon he would suck it up and make it happen.

"Hatty?"

How to explain that he had given a name to the half completed earlier model of Wufei's replacement.

'Nataku's predecessor.' Maybe he could get away with saying the creator had called her that in his notes? But if anyone else ever read the whole thing they would realise he'd made it up. Still, the chances of anyone reading the notes anytime soon were slim, so at least his humiliation would be delayed.

"Right." Wufei, on the hand, would know he had named it. Oh well.

There were no more messages on the board and he forced himself to forget about Wufei for a while and concentrate on working. Namely, on building a replica of the Pad. Despite having read the manual and the journal notes, and having a perfectly working example to duplicate, it was far from easy and Trowa found himself cursing as he tried even just to find the parts he needed scattered about the workshop. The creator had no sense of 'tidy', and was hopeless at breaking things down to the nitty gritty, so Trowa found himself taking small pieces off the Pad and disassembling them, duplicating it one wire at a time.

It was a very time consuming process and by lunch he had barely copied three small components. He took out the energy bar he'd packed for lunch and his bottle of water and sat down next to Hatty, not sure that was a good idea but his stomach didn't protest too horribly and he nibbled away at the bar while he studied the ports in her body. It still disturbed him to see how intricately each was connected inside, not knowing if they were removable or if Wufei was going to have to learn to live with them. Surely they could find some doctor and scientist crazy enough to figure it out. Sally would help, but she wouldn't be able to do it alone.

They were thoughts for another time, in the future, when they actually got free of Frank and Trowa convinced Wufei to join him for a little while on his unemployment vacation. Wufei would be joining him whether he liked it or not after the crap he'd put them through.

He finished his energy bar and started poking around at Hatty's head again, trying to figure out how her eyes kept opening but without taking her face off so he could see the sockets, it was too hard to tell and he wasn't quite ready to rip the poor girl's skin off her bones. Instead he logged in to her system and had a look that way, but biological responses were, as he knew from the creator's notes, entirely separate from her system. It was why she had been discontinued, after all.

He did, however, find several modules in his coding switched off and turned each one on in turn, waiting for changes or responses. There were none, including nothing negative, so he left them on. Whatever they did, it couldn't hurt to have them active and doing their thing as long as it didn't interrupt or inhibit his access of the System.

He got back to work duplicating pieces of the Pad, and sent each piece through to His Room, wondering if Wufei or Heero had even noticed the random things popping up under the bed. It was the only place he could think of where no one was going to be standing at any given moment and get mixed up in the Molecularization process.

By the end of the day he hand superficial burns over his hands and up his arms, his fingers ached from twisting wires and shoving them into the tiny places he didn't have the right tools to reach, and his eyes had the crusty, dry feeling that meant he was going to have to try and get some drops or stop staring at things for extended periods of time.

He was about to start the shutdown processes when the Pad activated and he stared in horror as a man doubled over on it and puked.

The mechanic.

"Damnit," he muttered to himself but his hand was already reaching for his gun and he held it on the man, just waiting for him to realise he was even there. He supposed he should have known it would take a while, but maybe Nataku was right after all and he was just getting used to the process. The mechanic was clearly not so accustomed to being put back together.

"Bloom?" He squinted at Trowa, making him realise it was dark in the Hanger. His eyes had always adjusted well to light but the few in the Hanger were gloomy things and he hadn't even bothered to turn them all on. No wonder his eyes were tired.

"You should have left it alone," Trowa scowled. Because really, what was he supposed to do with the man now?

"What are you doing...where are we?" The man looked around with wide eyes, then caught sight of Hatty and her sisters and Trowa had to sit through another round of puking. And really, who was going to clean that up?

"I could ask you the same question. You inputted your own data into the SiS files?"

"There was no other explanation. I wanted to make it work." Stubborn, fool of a man! Trowa didn't want to have to kill him, but he would if he had to. It was a Yuy response to the situation though and he was trying to think of alternatives. He waved the gun in the direction of the tables and the mechanic wasn't stupid, he walked. Or stumbled really, his legs still not fully recovered from the transition back into substantial being.

"What is this place?" He sat down in one of the chairs and looked around with wide, horrified eyes, his gaze coming back to rest on Hatty and her beating heart. Trowa doubted the colour would be coming back to the man's face any time soon.

"This is Hanger101."

"There is no Hanger101," the mechanic frowned, clearly at odds with himself as he looked around again. Obviously, there was a Hanger101. "I don't...I don't understand."

"The man who built this colony. This is his workshop."

The mechanic just couldn't stop his eyes from landing on Hatty and Trowa just waited it out, letting him get used to the idea, going to take a seat in front of the laptop again, gun still ready and pointed at the man in case he got any ideas. It wasn't like Trowa didn't need a few minutes to get his own head straight. He hadn't expected the man to figure it out, though he should have known that once he knew Trowa had succeeded he wouldn't stop until he figured it out as well. And here they were...what a nuisance.

"This...this is Harry's workshop?"

"Harry?" Trowa sat up, wishing he'd bothered to ask the monk what his brother's name was.

"Harrison Jules," the mechanic whispered, still just staring at Hatty. It was getting annoying really, she was going to get a complex if he wasn't careful! Girls didn't like to be stared at, really.

"Harrison Jules?" He would have to check with Farrar and find out if that was indeed his brother. But what the hell was he supposed to do with the mechanic in the meantime?

"He was a friend of mine. He flew the SiS-50 from the broken Pad...But it stopped working and after a while he stopped coming to try and fix it...But he was coming here. Wasn't he." It wasn't a question and Trowa didn't bother trying to reply. It wasn't like he actually knew what had happened anyway, he only knew the end of the story and he thought it was pretty obvious.

"He's dead. Isn't he."

"Yes," it wasn't a question but Trowa felt the need to give him closure anyway. The man sighed and sat in silence, just looking around the workshop with a sad expression, shaking his head every now and then as if he couldn't quite believe it.

"He was a good man. So clever...he could do anything. I'm not surprised it was him who made it all, though he never said."

That still amazed Trowa, that the man had never demanded he be allowed to take credit for the incredible things he had brought to life. Whoever held the purse strings had to have made one hell of a contract to manage it, and even then he didn't see how it had stopped Harrison Jules, if that was really his name, from telling the world about all his amazing inventions. From telling the universe about Frank. It would have saved Preventers a lot of time and trouble and made his life a lot easier.

Unfortunately he doubted they would have been told about Wufei. Some things happened the way they happened for a reason, Wufei liked to remind him, and maybe this was just one of those times. He had Wufei, so he would be grateful for it, regardless of what happened next.

"The System that runs this colony killed him," Trowa told him bluntly. The man stared at him with wide eyes and Trowa decided some truth might just save the man's life, depending on how he took it. So he crossed his legs and got comfortable.

"The System, which I like to call Frank, is trying to get control of Preventers, the peacekeeping force set up by the United Nations Body headed by Relena Peacecraft. You're familiar with it?"

"Yes, but...what? Why?" Why indeed, when the colony's goal had always been to remain apart from the rest of the universe.

"I am a Preventer agent. I was sent to investigate the colony, to see what it was and ascertain its purpose. Currently, I believe its purpose to be gaining full control of the human race. The System's prime directive is to preserve human life..."

"I understand," the mechanic whispered softly, but he was silent for a long while, absorbing the information. Eventually his gaze returned to Trowa, and more importantly to Trowa's gun.

"Are you going to kill me?"

"I haven't decided yet."

What little colour had returned to the man's face drained again and Trowa watched his throat swallow knowingly. He was in a very uncomfortable position and Trowa didn't envy him at all. Of course, Trowa would never have gotten himself into such a stupid position in the first place.

"Do you have a family?"

"No..." He was clearly struggling to decide if he should have said yes, if it might have maybe made a difference. It would have, but only to how Trowa approached the problem. If he'd had one, and Trowa had to kill the man, it also meant he might have had to kill the family and that would have been annoying. Not having a family was always the better option, even when you did have one.

"That's good," he reassured the man, or tried to. It was hard to be reassuring when you were pointing a gun at someone. They just didn't seem to accept you were being sincere.

The really annoying thing was that he was going to be late to dinner, which was, he at least hoped, going to make Wufei worry and the last thing he wanted to do was add to that man's worries. Even if it felt nice to know he would. He hoped. And Duo would scowl at him all night for making his dinner cold or some such nonsense. It wasn't even his fault!

He turned to the laptop and hacked into the Level 1 files again, looking at the man expectantly.

"What's your military detail?"

"2620007622...Giles Hume."

Trowa typed it in and copied his profile across to his system before clocking the man out for the day and then putting in a sick leave request for tomorrow and approving it.

"Okay, you've gone home and tomorrow you are sick," Trowa informed him, pointing the gun at the hoists Hatty had been attached to. The man blanched but wheeled his chair backward until it was under the chains. Trowa moved in quickly and cuffed him to the chair and hoist, making sure he could move but that he wasn't going anywhere.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to go back to My Room and have dinner, and sleep and then come back here in the morning after my team and I have decided what to do with you." And yes, he was going to let the man sweat on it all night.

He set the Pad back to register only his details and locked it that way, setting the timer and going about the process of shutting down his laptop so he could get out before he decided killing the man really would just be easier.

He put a cup on the table near the man as he went about unplugging Hatty and the man stared at it for a long time. Then he put his water bottle, which was mostly full beside it and the man frowned.

"The bottle's for drinking, the cup is for peeing," Trowa explained and the man slumped, all the fight gone from him. Trowa suspected he would spend the night thinking equally about his dead friend, and how much time he had before he was joining him in death. It wasn't a completely useless way to spend the night, though Trowa would have looked for a way to escape had their positions been reversed.

"Please...please don't kill me!"

Trowa stared at him, taking in the quiet demeanour and the pleading look on his face and really, he hadn't nothing against Giles Hume. He was just a mechanic who let his curiosity get away from him and risked his life for no good reason at all. It wasn't a good enough reason to kill him and if he was smart and did as he was told Trowa was confident it wouldn't come to that.

"Don't give me a reason to."

He left it at that, going to the Pad as the timer activated and maybe Giles called something out, maybe he didn't, Trowa had no idea because he was in the shower again, Duo standing in front of him, wide eyed and butt naked.

"Duo..." Duo's fist smashed into his guts and he toppled backward into the wall.

"Pervert!" Duo bellowed at him and grabbed a towel, charging out of the bathroom. Trowa just slid down the shower wall and rubbed his stomach.

Heero popped his head in and smirked and Trowa just gave him the finger, motioning for the door to close and tossing his backpack out of the shower before turning on the water, fully clothed.

It took a while but his body got over the Molecularization and he eventually stripped off and showered, hanging his wet clothes over the towel rack and dressing in his comfortable house pants and a t-shirt. He was getting really sick of white clothes. When he got home he was going shopping and buying every outrageously coloured piece of clothing he saw.

"Bastard," he grumbled at Duo when he emerged to find Duo and Heero on the sleeping bag, talking quietly over some folders they had been working on. Duo just shrugged, feeling entirely justified and Trowa glared.

"Okay, from now on, no one showers between six and seven. That's Molecularization time. I could turn up in there at any time and I do not want to end up merged to one of you."

"Neither do we," Duo muttered darkly and Trowa wondered how long it was going to take for him to get over it.

Wufei snickering on the bed wasn't helping anyone's mood.

"Duo found the offices of two of the men in charge. They're old names," Heero noted softly, holding out one of the folders for Trowa to take and Trowa frowned as he sat on the bed beside Wufei and read the title.

"Noventa? Seriously?" Heero just grunted.

Flipping through the file it was mostly as Trowa had expected, an early history of activism, a son rebelling against a rich family, advocating peace and then a personal tragedy, the loss of a loved one to send them over the rails. The right contacts, a list of names likely to be in the same position and enough money inherited to help buy off a noted scientist. He sighed and handed the folder back, trusting them to read the details and build the right picture. His job was just to get the Pad working.

"I've got some good leads on the others. Think I should have the whole list in two...three days tops. Was hard getting around though, they're fishy about strangers up there now and there's ridiculous security in place. Even Wufei had trouble getting me through some places."

That got Trowa's attention and he studied Wufei as if he might see signs of a struggle on him. There were none and Wufei just smirked, knowing exactly that he was looking for.

"I'm fine, Barton. Stop looking for problems where there aren't any."

"Speaking of..." They were all looking at him and he shifted uncomfortably. "Well, the mechanic who originally was trying to fix the broken Pad on Level1?"

"Yes," Duo droned expectantly, drawing the word out in the same way Trowa was drawing out the conversation.

"His name is Giles Hume."

"I'm not seeing your point," Heero noted coldly and really that was obvious from the frown on his face and Trowa just shrugged at them all.

"I'm sort of keeping him prisoner in Hanger101."

A room full of silence was a very funny thing, but strangely no one was laughing.

"Define sort of," Duo was very careful with his words and Trowa wondered if he should be as well.

"I mean I have him chained up with a cup to pee in and some water to drink and that I'll go check on him in the morning."

Even Wufei was just staring at him now and really, Trowa didn't see what all the fuss was about. The guy had surprised him, so what. He had more initiative than Trowa had given him credit for, that wasn't a reason to kill him. They weren't at war, right now, and he saw no reason to start killing innocent people for the crime of curiosity.

"Kill him," Heero ordered and you would think that was the end of the conversation.

"No. The man's an innocent fool. Besides, he's good with Pads. He can help me."

"And in the meantime you'll what? Keep him like a pet? He's a human being, Trowa!" Duo was horrified, but Trowa didn't bother pointing out that at least as a pet the man would be alive. In Heero's scenario he was very much dead, which tended to be a rather irrecoverable state of being.

"What if he gets free?" Wufei asked softly.

"For starters, he won't get free." It just wasn't possible, even if you were Heero. "And secondly, he can't go anywhere, I took his details off the file, the Pad will only recognise me until someone reprograms it and I took the computer with me."

"...that was smart," Wufei admitted and Trowa just rolled his eyes, wondering if they had honestly expected him to do something stupid. Other than tie a man up to keep as a pet in his secret laboratory.

"It's fine. He's...he's a good guy," Trowa grumbled, not wanting to talk about it anymore. They dropped it and Duo went to the microwave, bringing back a plate of steak and vegetables. Trowa took it gratefully and shifted to the far corner of the bed to eat it, wanting distance from the people who hadn't done anything since he got back besides punch him and treat him like he was an idiot. They were smart enough to give him his space.

He didn't even think of looking up again until Wufei got up and went to the kitchenette to make himself a pot of tea. Trowa watched him, noticing the way he still only took small steps and the lack of confidence in those, but he was getting better and he had no trouble lifting the kettle and making the tea, while just a few days ago he would have struggled. So he smiled and took his plate to the sink, brushing his fingers across the back of Wufei's neck on his way past, liking the way he shivered a little at the touch and looked across at him.

"I watered the plant," he said softly and Trowa smiled. Whatever he had done with the rest of the day was irrelevant because he had been thinking of Trowa.

"No word from Quatre yet," Wufei noted softly and Trowa just sighed. He wasn't surprised, doing the math in his head.

"Even if he'd gotten to the satellite in two hours, which I don't think he did..." Quatre was too cautious after losing men. He would have waited to see if it blew, then run every scan on it he could think of before going in, and even then... "Even if he's got the information already, it'll take Preventers at least 48 hours to get through it all and send a shuttle. And that'll take at least a couple of days to track us down... I don't expect to hear anything for at least three days." And that was if whoever read the report had enough sense to really put all the pieces together.

"I guess," Wufei grumbled and it was laced with so much unhappiness Trowa frowned and reached out to gently tug Wufei's chin in his direction, making him look at him.

"Homesick?" It was about time.

"I just want it over." Wanted closure, and Trowa knew he had done the right thing with Giles today. Humans weren't inherently bad people, things happened that made them that way. He didn't want to be that thing for Giles Hume. In the morning they would sit down and have a long talk and at the end of it he was confident Giles Hume would help him of his own free will.

"What's a week to a lifetime?"

It was the answer Wufei had given him, when he'd asked for a week to think about it, to escape from the demand in Trowa's gaze and Trowa had stood there, lost for words. Wufei laughed now, having his words thrown back at him.

"Nothing indeed," he agreed softly and Trowa coaxed him back to the bed, tucking him in and bringing him a cup of tea when it was ready, settling in beside him while he drank it. He looked comfortable and content and Trowa ached to see him home, in his real bed, and to bring him tea that wasn't laced with an addictive substance, and maybe watch TV on a screen that couldn't watch them back.

But there would be time for that. A week wasn't long at all.


	16. Chapter 16

16:

A week might not be a long time, but Trowa thought a day could feel like it was. Especially when it had barely started. He sat in the cafe across from Duo wondering how Duo still looked like they had only just arrived on planet Frank while he looked like someone had gutted him, smashed his face into a fridge, gouged out his eyes with a spoon only to stuff them back in and kept him awake on a hundred plus hour marathon of weirdness.

Duo almost looked happy. It wasn't fair at all. Trowa glared at him over the table.

"Okay, I'm sorry I punched you! But you surprised me, I was in the damn shower, man! Naked!"

"I know," Trowa reminded him. "I'm traumatized for life."

"Funny." Trowa didn't think it was. His guts and the wicked bruise on them definitely didn't think so. He wasn't actually angry at Duo, but at himself for not having thought to tell them not to go in the shower at a particular time so he could avoid seeing anyone naked, or worse.

"So...Wufei."

"Duo, I'm not talking about this with you," Trowa rolled his eyes in exasperation. Was he really going to have to put up with this every morning until he gave in and blabbed? And if he did give in and blab would Duo just take that as permission to keep asking and expecting him to blab every morning? Very likely.

"But Tro!" Duo was actually pouting and took a large bite out of his muffin to chew on in his annoyance. "I tell you about Heero!"

"I don't ask you to!" Trowa pointed out, and really he often wished Duo would tell him a little less about the things he did with Heero. He'd gotten better as their relationship grew more stable but he still occasionally said things that fell far over the line of too much information.

"But I'm asking you to!" Duo leant forward, eyes pleading and hopeful and Trowa picked up his muffin and shoved it in Duo's mouth, more to distract himself than because it was funny, though watching him struggle to decide whether to eat it or spit it out was amusing.

"What are you asking me? Do you even know? What don't you know that you want so badly to hear?" Because really, Trowa was confused. They were all sleeping in the same room, if he and Wufei were getting up to something then he would have thought Duo would know. Even Duo seemed to agree for a minute, slumping back in his seat and thinking about it curiously.

"It's just...you were really happy, when you were working with Wufei. You were fun. You pulled pranks and were constantly trying to find the next thing that would piss him off. Even Heero started to do stupid things just for the hell of it. I liked it. And then..." Then nothing, he didn't need to say it, they both knew how the story had ended. Wufei gone, Trowa retreating, giving in and going home. The end of the strange familial group that had formed. It was strange how even the strongest things ended so easily. Relationships were fragile, like the people who had them.

"We both know Wufei isn't going to leave Preventers," Trowa pointed out, and if Wufei wasn't leaving then that meant he was going to have to go back. Everything would go back to the way Duo wanted it, so he was still at a loss as to why they were having this awkward breakfast conversation. He didn't think Duo really knew either.

"Just...I was hoping, when you first came back and I noticed you were sort of interested...I was hoping he would say yes, and now he has...I dunno. It makes me happy. I wish you felt comfortable talking to me about it." He shrugged, letting it drop, sipping at his coffee instead and despite the fact he wasn't pouting, or maybe because he wasn't, Trowa felt like he'd kicked a puppy.

"Duo..." He sighed and ran an irritated hand through his hair, glaring at his muffin as if this whole conversation were somehow its fault. After all, if it had properly stuffed Duo's mouth, Duo wouldn't be able to talk and make him feel uncomfortable like a puppy kicker.

"I'm happy. I'm so happy I'm terrified. The idiot won't sit in bed and just take a time out and if he gets himself axed now, I..." He shut his mouth and shook his head because Duo already knew, Trowa could tell by the look on his face.

"Honestly, I'm more worried about Quatre."

It was so out of the blue Trowa blinked stupidly at him and it took him a full minute to realise Duo had changed the topic on purpose, to give him space and an excuse to not talk any more about it right now. And he wondered if he hadn't maybe misjudged Duo a little, if maybe he understood more than Trowa had been willing to give him credit for.

"Quatre can take care of himself. In the business world, discrediting Quatre isn't possible. Frank's not going to succeed...he has no idea what sort of fire he's playing with going after him." And Trowa believed that with every fibre of his being. Quatre was scary on a mission for Preventers, cold and annoyed at having to be there at all. Quatre doing actual business made Trowa afraid of money in general in case it had at some point come in contact with Quatre, which in most cases it very likely had. Quatre was an armoured whale in a small ocean.

"You guys still talk then? I mean...regularly?"

"Of course, doesn't every..." Quatre didn't talk to them anymore? Really? That was odd.

"He talks to us when he's at Preventers, but that's so rare these days and he's just too busy otherwise."

Yet he took time out to come and see Trowa every Sunday, to play music together, watch bad movies and cook extravagant dinners for two. Quatre had only missed one, and it had been because the flight back from Mars was delayed and he hadn't been able to charter a private shuttle. Trowa had forgiven him.

"'s been pretty busy. Guess I didn't really appreciate how busy." That won a laugh from Duo, and a piece of muffin thrown at him.

"Tro, you live in a bubble, there's a lot of things you don't appreciate." Duo's sense of humour being on the list.

"But it's a nice bubble," Trowa grinned and Duo just laughed harder, finishing his coffee and calling out to Tracey to check if their take aways were ready. They were and they both got up, clearing their mess and tossing it in the provided bins before wishing Tracey a good day and going to stand in front of the shuttle bay, each heading in a different direction.

"Have a good day, Tro. And stop worrying about Wufei! Heero'll take care of him. I know he doesn't act like it sometimes, but he really does care. He just wants to get everyone home safe."

Trowa knew that, but it was nice to be reminded and he waved Duo off at the shuttle before getting on his own and heading in to work. It was becoming far too easy to lie his way out of his simulator and over to the broken Pad. His superior officer was changing from being 'capable' in Trowa's eyes to be being 'gullible'. Not that he cared since it meant he could go straight to Hanger101.

Giles Hume struggled so hard to get out of his chair when Trowa appeared, he knocked the chair over and nosedived into the floor, continuing to struggle forward, trying to get to Trowa. At first Trowa assumed the man wanted to kill him, which was stupid considering Giles was still chained to a chair and Trowa was a man of many talents, but the look on his face and the way he kept looking behind him as if expecting something to chase after him made Trowa pause in that assumption.

"Giles?" The man was terrified and Trowa looked back at the table and thought he might understand why.

"Hatty?"

"Mister Bloom." She was sitting up, if you could call it sitting when you didn't have a body below your ribs, arms moving sluggishly as she inspected the things he had left on the table. The hole he had made in her head was far more grotesque now she was up and moving and...talking. He remembered the systems he had activated the day before and cringed because okay, that had been a really bad idea after all.

"Good morning Hatty," he said softly, hurrying to help Giles, getting him up and quickly undoing the chains, letting him loose because he didn't think the man would try to do anything. Giles just stumbled back against the wall, still staring at Hatty so Trowa left him to pull himself together and tried to figure himself out because it was extremely disturbing to see her moving. He wasn't even sure what was functional and what wasn't. Could she see? Her voice box was working, so what else could she do?

"Good morning," She replied and when she lifted her hand and made the movement to push hair back behind her ear that didn't exist he thought he might understand why Giles was freaking out.

"Hatty...what are you doing?" He had no idea what to do or say and so just went about what he would have done had she not been there, getting out his laptop and setting it up before getting the pins ready and going to stand in front of her.

"I was trying to talk to your friend, but he didn't want to talk to me." She sounded truly devastated and he sighed, because that was his fault too. He'd programmed her to help him by talking to other applications. Unfortunately, not plugged in other programs became human, apparently. Poor Giles. He wondered how long Hatty had been trying to talk to him.

"I'm sorry, Hatty. He wasn't expecting you to want to talk to him. He'll know better next time." So would Trowa. If things were turned off he should just leave them alone! But now that she was on, he didn't want to turn her off, feeling oddly like it would be like killing a part of Wufei. Ridiculous, yes, but still a feeling he was experiencing and struggling with.

"Where were you? I thought you would be here..." Because Harrison had always been there? Right up until he switched her off, Trowa assumed.

"I'm sorry, I had to go back to my friends for the night. To sleep."

"Sleep?" She looked confused by the idea, then her facial features settled again. "I was asleep."

"Yes...I suppose you were." He didn't want to upset her by pointing out she had been pretty much dead, not just asleep. It wasn't a good idea to piss off the robot when he still needed its help.

He held up the collection of pins and pointed at the ports on her head.

"I need to plug these in. Is that okay? Then we can do some work?"

"Of course! I can do it!" She was clumsy but she managed to plug each in and he let her do it, not wanting to get much closer while she was flailing her arms about. He felt guilty about pulling her shoulder apart now, wondering if it was contributing to her lack of communication.

She got everything hooked up and Trowa synced her with the computer, startled when several additional programs launched at the same time, assuming they were related to Hatty. Maybe he should have rebooted after making the changes yesterday and all these surprises could have been avoided.

"Okay, Hatty?"

"I'm fine." Right, because everyone was fine with being half completed and dumped for the better model. But then, he supposed she was doing better than the other two models which really were dead.

"Giles...Giles?" He looked back and found the man just sitting on the floor staring at them both like they were mad and sighed, scratching his head before going over to kneel in front of him.

"Just...ignore Hatty. I didn't realise I'd turned on her brain. She's harmless, really, and I need her. Now...come on, I want to show you what I'm trying to do and why and then maybe you can help me out."

"You...you're not going to kill me?"

"Uh...no, I don't think so. Dead bodies don't really do much to help me out." They were pretty annoying actually; they were heavy and stank and didn't give you answers when you asked questions. Completely useless.

Giles seemed to settle then, peering past him at Hatty before looking back at him sternly.

"That thing is creepy."

"Aw, she's not so bad..." Trowa looked over at her and she waved excitedly. "That's a lie, she's totally creepy. Now come on, need you to read these journals."

So Giles took a seat, making sure Trowa was between him and Hatty and he started reading the journals, asking questions every now and then while Trowa explained in between building some of the Pad components exactly what had happened. Who he was and how he got there and what he was trying to do.

"You were really a Gundam Pilot?" Out of everything he had told him, that was the question Giles asked first. Trowa chuckled and nodded his head. Yes, he'd been a Gundam Pilot, and he had enjoyed it, mostly. He didn't regret it, and that was the part that mattered, or so Wufei liked to tell him.

"Huh...that's pretty cool," Giles noted faintly, which was saying something considering what he was reading. "So you're trying to build a duplicate Pad, like the one here? Why?"

"This one's on the wrong side the magnetic field protecting Level 1. I can't get my team through the military security without a lot of people getting hurt."

"So you thought it would be easier to build a Pad on the other side of the field. So you're building the parts here and sending them there to assemble?"

"That's the idea," Trowa agreed. He was struggling to hold down a metal plate that didn't want to bend the right way so he could weld it when an unfamiliar hand got in the way and he just stared, taking a very deep breath before smiling up at Hatty and welding it in place.

"Thank you, Hatty."

"You're welcome Mister Bloom."

"Hatty...you can call me Triton."

"Thank you, Triton!" She seemed so genuinely happy, like she was doing him an incredible favour. It was unsettling, to say the least, and Giles seemed to agree, just staring at him like he was insane for not just pulling her to pieces. Maybe he was right, but Trowa still needed her.

"So your friend, the Origen...he's...like her?"

"She was made from clones of parts of him combined with simulative software and hardware that means ...well, the actual Nataku Harry finished...can sustain Frank just as well as a human would have."

"You hope," Giles added and Trowa just shrugged because it was impossible to know how successful Nataku was being as the Origen. The colony hadn't crashed, but that wasn't something she had any control over anyway. Frank seemed to be playing nice, but who really knew what the System was thinking?

"Even if you manage to build a duplicate of this Pad, and your friends show up and you get out of here, how are you going to disable...Frank...really? Why did you call it Frank?"

Why did everyone end up asking about that? Trowa sighed and explained that Duo had named it Frank after Frankenstein. Giles was of the opinion that made no sense at all, and Trowa almost had to agree with him, but it was Duo. It didn't have to make sense if it came out of Duo's mouth.

"Well, anyway, even if you manage to get out, how are you going to disable Frank without hurting the people on board? The people who live here are good people. Genuinely wonderful people, living ordinary, happy lives."

Trowa knew that. He'd known that since he first got there and went out to see for himself, with no pre-conceptions. He only had to have coffee in the cafe every morning and see Tracey to know that. But if it came down to getting Wufei home or helping these people survive, he couldn't guarantee he would do the right thing.

"I'm not sure."

"I have an idea." But Giles hesitated on it, looking at him seriously as if he expected Trowa to freak out about it. Considering Hatty was singing softly not two metres from them, it had to be a pretty wild idea for Giles to assume he was going to freak over it.

"You have the Origen, right?"

"...yes." He already didn't like this idea.

"If you plug him into a port...completely plug him in, all two hundred ports, then he should have full access, to all systems. Theoretically, as the human mind he should be able to overpower the System."

"But Frank has a human mind..." Wufei's mind to be exact, or a vague variation thereof. He still really disliked this idea, but he could already see it was a possibility. If the Origen was anyone other than who it was he might have been more ready to consider it, but not yet. Not until there was no other choice.

"But his connection to that human mind isn't human...there's still that special something missing. Just like it's missing from our friend there." He gestured vaguely at Hatty and Trowa was starting to find his aversion to her very amusing.

He thought about it and realised Giles was talking about the human soul or spirit...that special something that allowed them to feel and respond accordingly. Accessing a human conscience didn't give Frank human emotion and Giles thought that could be the difference. Frank was incapable of anger. Wufei certainly was not.

"I'll think about it," Trowa agreed softly. He wouldn't give it a great deal of thought, but now the idea was planted he knew it would remain churning away in the back of his mind.

"So," he said just by way of conversation, and to change the topic. "No family?"

"My wife and I...we had a child. He was killed by a ten year old boy who wanted money...stabbed him and ran away and no one stopped to help him."

Everyone had a story, Trowa reminded himself. People were a sum of their experiences and while all the people here were good people, they were here for a reason. He had tried not to think about the tragedies that had populated Frank but now he found himself facing one and it wasn't a pretty picture. Giles wasn't bad looking, but he wasn't handsome either...

"So Lana...that was my wife's name, she wanted a fresh start, a completely new slate. So when a friend told us about the colony we just decided to do it. There was no reason not to, nothing we couldn't leave behind."

"You said you had no family," Trowa noted softly. Where was Lana? Was she missing her husband? Had she grown suspicious of his absence last night? Was he already listed as a missing person?

"She died the first year of the colony. She tried, her heart just wasn't in it, and it gave out."

They were quiet a long time, Giles lost in his memories, Trowa in wonder at the strangeness of mankind. They were at once a spectacularly resilient race, and at the same time equally fragile.

"I'm sorry."

"It was a long time ago," Giles murmured and there was little grief left in it, time having faded it to something like another life. Giles was just the mechanic now, but maybe his previous life had something to do with why he was so adamant on fixing the things everyone else had given up on. It wasn't a bad trait, quite the contrary, even if it had a bitter beginning.

"And yourself?"

Trowa was startled by the question, pausing in his work to look from Giles to Hatty and back again before replying.

"No. No family. Just...the other pilots. They're like brothers to me, you know?"

"I can imagine," Giles agreed with a soft chuckle. "But no girlfriend? Boyfriend perhaps?"

His relationship was still so new with Wufei that Trowa almost didn't want to mention it just for fear he would jinx himself, but he'd avoiding speaking to Duo about anything because he didn't want the man telling anyone else what he said. Giles didn't know anyone to tell and Trowa sighed, rubbing his head and trying to concentrate on the job at hand while he thought of a way to answer.

"The Origen."

"No...really?" Giles was gaping, then laughing and Trowa really wished people would stop laughing at him every time they found out he was interested in Wufei.

"Yeah, really. He wasn't always the Origen you know. I...I courted him for a year, we worked together and I kept hinting I wanted more, trying to push him into it I guess and it was this weird cat and mouse game. The others thought it was hilarious, but I didn't care I just wanted him to say yes. To at least let us try, but he's so stubborn about everything! And then he went for this job interview and I didn't hear from him again."

"You assumed he ran," Giles surmised and Trowa just nodded in agreement. Giles sighed, pottering around collecting various pieces from around the workshop and piling them in front of himself ready to assemble.

"So he's finally said yes then?" Trowa hummed his agreement. "Strange place for it." Trowa had to agree. Of all the times and places for Wufei to agree, this was certainly not one Trowa would have imagined in his worst nightmares.

"He's just...he's addicted to this stuff the System ran him on, and he's got ports like Hatty here, and he's so weak and I just want him to take it easy but he's being impossible and trying to prove he can help or something, drives me insane!"

"Doesn't want to be useless," Giles agreed and Trowa just grunted. Being useless was not a fault Wufei ever needed to worry about. Giving Trowa an ulcer on a stomach Duo had already pounded...that was worth worrying about.

"Bit of advice, kid?" Kid? Really? They were down to Kid now? He supposed Giles was old enough to be his father, but that was completely not the point. Trowa was not a Kid and couldn't remember ever being one. Not where it mattered.

"You can't live someone else's life for 'em. Love is knowing what you want, and never giving it up. If you really love the guy, just keep reminding them and they'll keep coming back when they're ready."

"What are you, a philosopher now?" Trowa chuckled but it was good advice and maybe it was what he'd been waiting to hear.

"I'll love you, Triton!"

Giles and Trowa stared at Hatty, shuddered together and refused to talk about it any further, heads bending over their work as they went about assembling as much of a second Pad as they could, sending the parts through to His Room. Having Giles there helped; the man knew his stuff and Trowa could stop referencing the mechanics manual and reference the man instead, saving himself a great deal of time and frustration. And Giles had shortcuts to get things to work, and improvements they had made to the military Pads over the years as technology had continued to advance.

The result was that he got twice as much work done as he had expected to, and even caught a few glimpses of Duo when Hatty mentioned something strange happening on Level 5 and showed them footage. He was trying to break in to a room and Trowa had Hatty help him, which she did happily. He could even admit it was easier with her awake, because he didn't have to worry about typing the commands himself; he just told Hatty to take care of it without even looking up from his work.

"Alright...that's enough for today. I've got to try and get this thing assembled anyway, or start trying to anyway..." He brushed his hands off and rubbed at gritty eyes, regretting not getting the eye drops he had been planning on yesterday.

"Uh...Trowa?" He sighed because he knew he couldn't just keep Giles here. Or he could, but there wasn't even a toilet and while there was a waste disposal and a sink, that was asking someone to live in pretty disgusting conditions. And despite having no family, Giles was still known about the station and the longer he was 'sick' the more people would start to wonder why they hadn't seen him. But he wasn't sure he could trust him. It wasn't that he expected the man to rush off and tell the first person he saw everything that happened, but it wasn't an impossibility either.

"Just...one more night?

"With Hatty?" Giles clarified and Trowa cringed because yeah, that was asking a bit. He sighed and decided on a compromise, smirking as he rummaged in his bag for a transmitter.

"Give me your arm." Giles did so and Trowa welded a transmitter onto his wrist before holding it up to Hatty.

"Can you sync with this?"

"Of course, Triton!" Immediately the stats of the bracelet appeared on his laptop screen. Sometimes having a half made robot girl came in handy.

"Excellent. Hatty, I want you to keep an eye on this tracker; watch it all the time. If Giles' takes it off, I want you to trap him in whatever room he is in, and tell me where it is; leave a message on my message board, okay?"

"Of course, Triton!" He hoped she wasn't just broken and repeating the same thing over and over, but either way Giles looked about ready to pee his pants at the thought of either Hatty stalking him all night or Trowa coming to get him if he abused his trust. Either way it worked for Trowa.

"Excellent. In that case, Giles, you are free to go. Where do you want me to drop you off?"

"Level 2," Giles whispered, still staring at Hatty. "Sector 62...anywhere there."

"Hatty, can you find an empty open space in Sector 62 and calibrate the Pad with Giles's information?"

"Yes, Sir!" She seemed excited and the information appeared hot and fast on the screen, a lot quicker than he could have hoped to have typed it in, let alone the process of searching a place. "Ready, Triton."

Giles backed up onto the Pad and waited.

"I'll come to your simulator in the morning?"

"First chance you get," Trowa agreed. "I'll be waiting." He loved it when he got to sound a little ominous. It was a bit mean of him, especially considering he'd already scared the pants of Giles, but it was just...fun. And then Giles was gone and he had to hope Hatty could do as he'd asked.

"Re-calibrate the Pad with my details, and locate the shower in My Room? Set it to go in fifteen minutes."

"Certainly..." It was done almost immediately and Trowa sighed, looking at her and going over to pack up his things, stuffing them away and disconnecting his laptop to take with him. Then he hesitated, unplugging Hatty and fetching his black cap from his bag, putting it on her head and reconnecting all the pins, grinning at the effect. She looked even stranger, but the cap covered the horrible hole in her head and made her look like a young girl with a strange hat on. Except for the fact her chest was open with all his insides showing.

"What is it?"

"It's a hat. It suits you."

"I look good?" She seemed so genuinely pleased it hurt.

"Yeah, Hatty. You look good."

"Thank you, Triton! I love it!" And somehow that hurt even more. He went and stood on the Pad, just waiting while Hatty chattered about her hat and sang to herself and he wondered who had taught her to sing or if it was something she had learnt from the System. It was a strange quirk, one that confused him and left him aching.

He was standing in the shower, Hatty's words ringing in his ears, because what did a machine know of love? Was it something they had been programmed to think they understood? Was it something that could be defined in their databases? Or had they acquired it from observing their human charges? Could they understand what they were acquiring? Or was there something in the human components that escaped logical reason...could they actually feel? Could they love?

Could Nataku?

He sighed and left the shower, stepping out to find Wufei sitting on the kitchenette bench, sipping on a cup of tea while Heero peeled carrots. Duo was playing on the Computer...Tetris, of all things. It was all so normal, and so human that Trowa could hardly process it. He felt raw and wanted to be empty. He dumped his backpack and went straight back in to the shower, tossing his clothes in the corner and climbing under the spray, turning it on extra hot as if he could burn away the grimy feel of his skin.

"Trowa?"

Wufei. He didn't ask permission, just got in the shower with him and the arms around him were strong and familiar and Trowa gave into them, wrapping Wufei tightly in his own embrace and burying his face in against Wufei's shoulder. A hand came up to rest on his head and his eyes stung.

Could they really understand? Feel this?

The shower drank his tears, Wufei's shoulder swallowed his sobs and his hands soothed his shaking.


	17. Chapter 17

17:

"Morning Triton."

Giles found him before he'd managed to even put his backpack down, surprising even Trowa and he just clung his backpack back over his shoulder and followed the man out of his Hanger and back over to the broken Pad.

"Morning," Trowa muttered, still sipping on his take away coffee.

"I had a few ideas for the new Pad, and for Hatty actually, so I drew up these plans and thought I'd run them by you..."

The man had what? Trowa just stared at the notebook he thrust into his hands, not bothering to read it until they got to Hanger101, and then cast an amused look at Giles. The man was a workaholic, and way too enthusiastic. It was a little creepy, really.

"You know it's not healthy to take your work home with you," Trowa muttered but Giles was just grinning at him, ready to get to it. They got to the broken Pad and Trowa felt a little better about things when Giles doubled over and puked again while he merely staggered forward to the table and sat down in front of Hatty.

"Oh, don't worry, Triton! It gets easier, I promise!" Were they just programmed to tell you that to make you feel better? Trowa glared up at her and didn't bother replying, batting away her hands when she tried to pet his head.

"Stop that!" He checked on what she had been doing all night, not at all surprised to see she had done exactly as requested and monitored Giles.

"Aww, isn't that sweet. Hatty watched you scribble down your ideas all night."

Giles just glared at him as he staggered to the other seat and sat, still looking sick. Hatty pet his head and Giles shuddered but put up with it, which was more than Trowa could say for himself.

"He didn't sleep for very long," Hatty observed. "You slept much longer," Hatty observed curiously and Trowa frowned up at her. She had spied on him all night as well. Great. "And he slept alone, but you didn't..." Definitely uncool!

"Hatty...why did you watch me?"

"Because I wanted to," She observed as if it were obvious. She clearly saw no problem with it and he didn't know how to begin explaining the concept of stalking to a machine. If she really was a machine. He was beginning to understand just how fine the line was between machine and 'something else'.

"Why did you sleep with someone else?" That she sounded both curious and jealous made Trowa feel cold and anxious and he stopped checking over the laptop and stared at her instead. Not wanting to have this conversation with Duo seemed childish now, when he was apparently going to have to have it with something far, far less appealing.

"Wufei is my boyfriend, Hatty. I always sleep with him." Or he was going to from now on. She didn't need to know it was a new thing, or that Wufei could choose not to be his boyfriend. She just needed cold hard facts and the ones that suited him best were Wufei was his boyfriend and he slept in his bed, no exceptions.

"Why?" Did machines really need a why? What was she, like five?

"Because I like it."

She was quiet, thinking it over, and Trowa had no idea what there was to think about. Wufei was his, and he liked it when they slept together, end of story.

"I don't like it," she said eventually and even Giles was frowning at her now. What did she know of like? What did she know of love...they were questions that had plagued his dreams long after he climbed out of the shower with Wufei and went to bed, letting Wufei tug him into his lap for once and falling into sleep. He hadn't come on this mission expecting to have to comprehend the level of humanity attainable by a being a man had made in a laboratory, but he feared he was going to have to do so before he was able to return home.

"You don't have to like it, Hatty, you just have to know it's true. Wufei is my boyfriend, I love him, and we sleep together in the same bed because we both like it."

She was quiet again and he was relieved by the silence, taking deep breaths and letting his thoughts settle into some sense of normalcy, if such a thing were even possible in Frank.

"Creepy, having to explain your personal life to a robot," Giles grumbled, but he was pulling out the journals and reading over Harry's notes, making his own notes on the drawings he'd made last nights and Trowa left him to it, going to collect the next lot of parts he needed to complete the next piece of the Pad replica, sitting down on the floor where he could spread things out more and getting to work. It took an hour for Hatty to stop sulking and start singing again.

"Hatty, who taught you to sing?"

"Harrison taught me! He was a great singer!" In her mind, Harrison's or fact? He didn't dare to ask.

"Do you have a music archive?"

"Of course! Let me see...oh, I have a work playlist? Harrison made it, would you like to listen?"

"Yes please," Trowa agreed, more curious than anything, and suddenly Bach's toccata was playing through speakers Harrison had placed strategically around the Hanger. Hatty still sung along, but it was more amusing than anything.

"La la la la! La la la la! La di di, la di di, la di di di la di daaaaaa."

The music helped Trowa find his space again, settling into the empty feeling and letting his hands work. It felt good, to not over think anything, to just know he had to do a particular job, in this case build something, with no other agenda. It felt like old times and while he doubted it was a sign of good mental health to enjoy being in a war, he thought there were particular skills a person learnt in that environment that people would have found useful in times of peace. Resilience being primes among them. Normal people had none, and it drove him half mad.

"La di da di, la di da di, la di da di, la di da di..."

Giles moved to the floor sometime later, and when Trowa finished his next component he moved to help Giles assemble the battery packs, not even blinking when Giles had to go back to the main Hanger to steal some extra batteries. He returned not a half hour later and they finished the packs, moving on to the next component.

"So I was thinking about Hatty and the newer model and the only difference I can see is that the new model is capable of integrating its human responses with its mechanical, right? As in, it's human brain is capable of merging with some part of the machinery and it all works together to simulate human responses...at least, that's as much as I could understand from Harry's notes?"

"That's about it," Trowa agreed, not sure where this was going.

"Yeah, well, so...the problem is the System, Frank, is too intelligent. He runs all our systems but he's also always thinking about the next step; the things people haven't thought about yet. People dream about the future and make plans, but those plans change. Frank is making concrete plans; he's not allowing for a changeable future."

It wasn't something Trowa had thought about and he wondered why Giles had, even if the man had no real personal life. When Trowa went home the last thing he wanted to think about was Frank's motives, he was trying to leave that up to Duo and Heero, who definitely hadn't considered whatever Giles was talking about as far as he could tell.

" The problem isn't that the System isn't working, the problem is that it's too good," Giles concluded. "If you want to fix it, you don't need to replace the Origen with a replica that's going to do just as good a job. You need to hinder it with something that's going to do a crappy job."

Trowa blinked at him and then looked over at Hatty, not sure Giles really understood what he was talking about, but equally sure he'd given it a lot more thought than Trowa had, which was to say nearly none. His focus was getting Wufei home, he didn't think it a bad focus.

"You want to plug Hatty into Frank...instead of Nataku."

"Maybe, I'm not sure yet, but I think before you look at possibly destroying the colony you need to look at other options. The people here haven't done anything wrong, and they're happy...genuinely so. Do you realise how rare that is? To have community that actually cares, not just about its own immediately group of friends, but about the whole?" Giles shook his head and it was clear he knew it was rare, that he'd experiences places that weren't like that and Trowa was forced to think of his son, and the fact that it wasn't his death that pained Giles the most, but the fact it was so pointless. It wasn't just that a child had stabbed his son for money neither of them had, but that his son had bled to death there because no one had come to his aid. Trowa had to admit that would never happen here. If someone was injured, everyone dove in to help. He knew, because his jaw was the talk of the military and every random stranger he spotted had come to offer him advice on remedies their great great something had taught them that worked wonders on bruises. And if they didn't have a great great whatever or a remedy to offer they just came to ask if he was okay and if there was anything they could do, which got really annoying when you were trying to sneak around and get to Hanger101 without anyone noticing.

Community mattered to these people. They understood its value and Giles wasn't willing to give up on it.

"I think we need to dumb Frank down; make him less intelligent, take out the processes that make him think it's okay to decide anything! Go back to letting humans make the decisions. Much like what we do here; you give Hatty an instruction and she follows through, but she's not making any decisions on her own."

"You mean, apart from watching me sleep," Trowa rolled his eyes and Giles just chuckled. But he was thinking about it, and Giles could be right. They were looking for more advanced ways to beat Frank; ways to trick him with replacements like Nataku, or ways to get around him but they weren't thinking about the problem itself, which was as simple as Harrison having gotten carried away with what he could achieve, trying to combine the master and its creation instead of letting them remain separate entities.

Only God could separate and be one at the same time. Trowa wondered if there wasn't a reason for that after all.

"It could work," he agreed softly, looking over at Hatty where she was singing and waving her arms around in what he could only assume was her concept of dancing to Brahms' lullaby.

"That's what I thought! So I thought we could build this converter..." Giles flipped through his notes to what looked like a giant mixing desk. Duo would have loved it, but he'd labelled each shifter with an essential system that existed in Frank and connected to the Origen. Trowa studied it carefully but knew without referencing back to Harrison's notes it was effectively gibberish to him.

"What does it do...basically?"

"Erases Frank's automotive directive to act, makes him wait for a command. He can observe and gain as much intel as he likes, but has to give the controller all the information, just as Hatty sends all the information she gets to the laptop, or...you, really. Then the controller can process all the information and tell it what action to take."

"Giving a decision making process back to a human, instead of a machine."

In its current state, those decisions were being influenced by a human conscience, but it was still Frank making the final decisions and that clearly wasn't working. This was an alternative that might work.

"It still leaves the colony in the situation of having a totalitarian society, where one person could end up with all the power," Trowa warned and Giles shook his head.

"Not if we tell these people what's going on. Not if they know how things work and they take equal responsibility for what has to be done. Sure, there will be some rich folks on Level 5 who will protest and try and take control for themselves, but they don't own us. If we know what's going on and what we need to do, the people here will do it, without complaint."

Trowa looked carefully at the plans Giles had drawn up and the notes he had made and slowly gave in. The man had done the research, seemed to know what he was doing and it wasn't like they didn't have time to spare and the equipment to manage it.

"Okay...we finish the Pad replica, and then we do this. Worst that can happen is it doesn't work and we're back to where we are now. No harm done."

Giles grinned and nodded in agreement, looking over the list of Pad parts they needed to make and getting started on the next one on the list. They were well past halfway already and Giles had made a few alterations to some of the major parts that meant they could ditch some of the older, more clunky bits and pieces, streamlining the process. He'd even managed to steal a few broken parts from the mechanics Hanger so they only had to repair them instead of entirely rebuilding.

"Thank you," Trowa found himself saying in between repairing a piece of motherboard.

"For what?"

"Helping. You could have been a real pain in the ass, thrown a hissy fit, tried to tell someone what I was doing, caused all sorts of trouble. But you didn't. Instead...I couldn't have gotten this all done alone. I'd still be trying to steal extra batteries."

Giles laughed at that and just shrugged, fiddling with an intricate set of wires, braiding them into a more manageable bunch and then sorting out which had come from where. It looked confusing but he seemed to manage it just fine while having a conversation. Trowa had to admire the skills Giles had acquired in his life. He was a very good mechanic.

"I'm old, not senile," Giles noted in amusement. "Once you explained what was going on, I understood why you'd done what you did. You're just trying to help people. Wouldn't be much of a person if I interfered with that now, would I?"

Trowa supposed not. They settled back into their comfortable silence while Hatty sang alone to a Kyrie.

When it was time to go, Trowa was amused by Giles wanting to stick around a while longer and start on the container for his controller and Trowa agreed it would be a good idea, if he felt up to it, which he clearly did. Hatty was excited because she wasn't going to be left alone in the dark.

She was not quite excited when Trowa packed up his things and got ready to leave.

"But why?" Was she pouting? There was definitely something odd going on with her mouth. Trowa winced.

"Because I need a shower, and food and to sleep, Hatty," Trowa tried to explain and wondered why he was bothering. He didn't really want to piss off the robot, but it wouldn't be the end of the world if he did. At least, he didn't think it would be but who really knew what she might do to him in if he did piss her off? She had already watched him sleep...what if she could gas him while he was asleep? That would suck. Killed by murderous robot while sleeping. Not exactly what he'd planned to have written on his grave.

"You can sleep with me," Hatty pointed out, as if this were an entirely reasonably proposition. Giles and Trowa both just stopped and stared where they were getting the Pad ready to send him to His Room.

"You know...I think Hatty likes you," Giles muttered, as if nervous they would be overheard. How good was Hatty's hearing anyway?

"I think so too," Trowa muttered back, not liking it at all. Why couldn't she develop a crush on Giles, and what was a robot doing with a crush anyway? If Duo found out Trowa would never hear the end of it. As in Ever.

"Hatty...I need you to understand this. I love Wufei. He is my boyfriend and that is never going to change. When I get to see him, it makes all the stress and bad feelings that build up during the day disappear. I like seeing him, spending time with him and getting to sleep with him. So I need to go home in the evening to be with him, okay?"

She was quiet for a long time, thinking this over and Trowa waited it out, wanting to make sure she understood and wasn't going to kill him in his sleep.

"You could bring him here, and sleep with me," Hatty finally countered and Trowa sighed, looking to Giles for help. He was laughing hard at them both, shaking his head as he pushed Trowa onto the Pad and went back to set the controls to send him on his way.

"Go, go...I'll try and explain things a little more to our charming Hatty."

Trowa could have kissed the man, except Giles wasn't the man he wanted to be kissing right then.

"Thanks, Giles. See you tomorrow Hatty!"

"See you," Giles and Hatty replied together, but Giles followed it up with a 'you owe me.' Trowa couldn't deny it and wondered what sort of beer the man drank.

He braced himself against the wall of the shower, taking deep breaths and telling himself it was getting better. Really. Only it really wasn't, it still sucked and he wasn't buying into the whole it gets better thing anymore. Anyone who believed that was an idiot with stomach cancer who'd lost all connection with his guts.

"Trowa?" Duo stuck his head in the door.

"Yeah, just...give me a minute." Or ten, seriously it was not getting any easier. He hurriedly showered and got changed, excited to see Wufei and a little disappointed when he didn't come in and join him, but when he emerged it was obvious why.

"Where's Wufei?" The bed was empty.

"He wanted to go for a walk, so Heero's taken him to the temple. They wanted to see the monk anyway, see if his brother's name really is Harrison and what not."

Trowa's panic receded into a vague worry that Wufei would hurt himself or get tired, but being with Heero was very much like being in your own personal security bubble so he relaxed and went to lean against the bench, watching Duo get things ready for dinner. Some sort of stew apparently.

"You get up to much mischief today?"

"Got the rest of the details on the people in charge and tailed them for a bit, trying to get a feel for their daily routine but they're so jumpy about the Origen being missing that it's hard to tell what's normal and what's not. Made a few notes on it, but Heero agrees with me that we can't take any of it as being concrete. How about you?"

"Giles and I finished some of the major parts of the replica. Just need to put the last few bits together tomorrow and we're done. But we're thinking of trying to build this other thing that might help us fix Frank."

"Fix him?" Duo paused in stirring his pot and looked at him strangely. "Didn't know he was broken."

"I'll explain better if we actually manage it. Really not sure it'll work at all, we're not exactly experts on the technology." To put it mildly. They were both taking random guesses on a lot of things but Giles at least had some idea of what Harrison was talking about when he broke things down into their components.

"So your mechanic reported for duty this morning without you having to hunt him down?"

"Earlier than expected, with a pile of notes he'd made overnight," Trowa rolled his eyes again. The man was far too eager to throw himself into more and more piles of work. He really needed a hobby. Or a girlfriend. Something, anyway.

"As I said, you make the strangest friends," Duo laughed and Trowa thought of Hatty and was once again grateful Duo had no idea the idiot robot thought she had a crush on him.

He moved over to the bed and pulled out the components they had sent through, starting to assemble what he could and when Duo was finished his preparations he came down to the floor to help, a little stunned by just what Trowa had been up to the last few days. It was one thing to tell them about the technology he'd been messing with, it was another to get up close and personal. Trowa understood the awe a little too well and wished he didn't.

It was another hour before the door opened and Heero helped Wufei inside. Trowa looked him up and down but there was no sign of injury, only sweat and a pleased turn of lips because he had managed a walk. He also looked a little surprised to walk in and find Trowa and Duo up to their elbows in grease and grime and the floor littered with parts.

"I didn't realise how much of it there was." So he had noticed the random things appearing under the bed. Trowa should have known he would.

Wufei went to shower and Trowa didn't try to follow, focussing on getting as much assembled as he could without a few of the tools from the workshop. When they'd done as much as they could Heero helped them push it back under the bed and Trowa went in to the bathroom to wash his hands and help Wufei re-bandage himself.

"Where'd you walk to?"

"Just to the temple," Wufei murmured, holding his arm out wearily while Trowa wound it tight in gauze. "Talked to Farrar for a bit. His brother's name was Harrison." He was at least telling them the truth, it was a good sign he could be trusted.

"Did you get what you wanted to get done?"

"Yeah. Giles has some good ideas too. He's a great help. I think I can trust him as well."

Wufei just nodded and when Trowa finished putting on the last bandage he was surprised when Wufei leaned in and wound his arms around his waist, hugging him tightly. Trowa didn't protest, just pulled him in and held on, happy to do so for as long as Wufei wanted.

"I missed you." It won a soft laugh from Trowa, because Wufei had no idea. He definitely wasn't telling Wufei about Hatty and her strange crush, the man would laugh and then quite possibly decide the robot had to die, and he still needed her, so he would wait and tell him afterward. Maybe. It might be best just not to mention it at all. Giles could keep a secret, surely.

"I missed you too," he admitted softly, still holding on as if someone might try to take Wufei from him and it didn't seem such an irrational fear, all things considered. He held him so tightly that Wufei had to push away, forcing him to loosen his grip and he bit his lip to keep from protesting, reminding himself this was new and Wufei needed time. He needed to be able to breathe too, if he was going to live, but that felt minor somehow.

"You've been working really hard," Wufei whispered, looking up at him with eyes like pools of darkness, sucking Trowa in and not letting him go. He could drown there, if only Wufei would let him. "It didn't really sink in til I saw all the parts under the bed at lunchtime. It was why I wanted to go for a walk, I felt...not lazy, but inspired to do more I guess. I wanted to try as hard as you've been trying, to feel the effort of it I guess." He sighed. "Does that sound stupid?"

"No," Trowa replied immediately before his expression softened and he reached up to stroke Wufei's cheek, wondering how in such disaster he had found such pleasure. How in such adversity his desires only thrived. "Not stupid at all." Brave, not stupid, and they could definitely be the same thing so it really was saying something.

"Duo keeps asking me about you," Wufei mused quietly and Trowa finally laughed, wondering where Duo got his perseverance, and if he didn't have a death wish because asking Trowa for details of his personal life was one thing. Asking Wufei was another thing entirely.

"You don't say..." It was obvious from his expression that Duo had been nagging him for days now and Wufei just laughed, a hand soothing a path up Trowa's shoulder and over, wrapping around the back of his neck to draw him down and then Wufei was kissing him, lightly at first, drawing Trowa out of his weariness until the rest of the world faded and all that existed was Wufei's mouth and the sweetness of his kiss. Then it deepened and there was heat and want and Trowa moaned into, losing himself to Wufei until it broke apart and he was left staring down into half lidded eyes, his own heavy breathing mingling with the soft pants of Wufei's own.

"I want you."

"Only you," Wufei agreed. "But not in the shower cubicle of Your Room inside Frank."

Trowa was immediately back to his senses, recalling Hatty and her incessant questions. Wanting to know why he slept in the same bed as Wufei and asking him to bring Wufei back to the Hanger so they could all sleep together. Immediately disturbed, he swallowed past the dry lump in his throat and forced a smile, nodding emphatically to Wufei. Definitely not anywhere inside of Frank.

Wufei released him and Trowa forced himself to follow him out into the main room where Duo was dishing up his stew, casting curious glances at them both but staying his tongue.

Trowa ate in silence, aware of Wufei leaning against him, content to just be together. He wondered if Hatty was watching them. He wondered if Giles was still with her, or if he had gone home. He wondered if Hatty understood why Wufei was leaning against him, if she had any comprehension of why his heart felt too large for his chest. He wondered if she knew anything of longing and if she could wait for years before someone showed they felt the same way, and if she could still love them as strongly all those years later. He wondered if No would change her mind, or if she could continue to feel the same way, despite rejection. He wondered if she understood what Yes could mean.

He hoped she understood possibility. Because without that, a thousand Hatty's could replace the Origen and it would make no difference. Until a machine understood that the future was not concrete; that choices built a thousand bridges into the infinity of what could be...until then, a machine was just a machine, and if it held control of their fates they were doomed.

Trowa didn't want to be doomed. He wanted the infinite possibilities he felt in Wufei's fingertips when they caressed his skin. He wanted the many futures he saw open up to him when Wufei pressed against his side and the heat of his body mingled with his own. He wanted to drown in the vague uncertainty of what might or might not be every time Wufei's dark gaze met his own.

The future wasn't written in stone. It couldn't be calculated. You could ask the Origen to tell you what to do, but nothing was concrete. Not even the Origen could make something happen. Mankind didn't have a finite answer, and until it did Frank couldn't be allowed to win. Frank wasn't the answer to humanity, the people he homed were, and while he sat there eating his stew, Trowa thought Giles was right. The answer wasn't to better themselves at all.

The answer was to accept that they were flawed, with good reason. The answer was to allow mistakes. The answer wasn't frank, it was to be simple. Ease and error.

The answer was human. Not machine.


	18. Chapter 18

18:

Fingers combed lightly through his hair, drawing Trowa further out of sleep with each pass. He smiled before he opened his eyes, lingering on the feeling of it, the confidence of the gentle touch, the ease and familiarity of it even though it was so new.

Wufei was leaning up on his elbow over him, shielding what he was doing from view with his body. His own hair had fallen over his shoulders in a tangled mess, enhancing the appearance that it hadn't been long since he woke either. It left Trowa feeling warm and cocooned in a bubble of the here and now, safe from Frank and the troubles of his long days in the Hanger. For a minute, there was only Wufei and the fingers that didn't still as he woke but continued to soothe.

"Morning."

"Good morning," Wufei corrected, leaning in to kiss his throat, leaving a trail of the light kisses up over his jaw to his lip and then pressing him further into the pillows to say good morning properly. A good morning didn't begin to cover it when he was getting kisses from Wufei.

Duo came out of the shower and sat back down with Heero, so Trowa forced himself to untangle himself from the sheets and darg himself up, surprised when Wufei followed him into the bathroom and started getting undressed. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Trowa hurriedly did the same, climbing into the shower and tugging Wufei in with him, sighing as the hot water fell of his scalp.

Duo had left his shampoo on the floor and Trowa picked it up, putting some in his palm before very carefully reaching out and cleaning Wufei's hair, careful to avoid the plugs. It took a lot of time, far more than it would have had Wufei been able to just scrub it through and wash it out, but regardless of it being time consuming Trowa enjoyed himself and Wufei shut his eyes and let it happen, the expression on his face calm and a little relieved.

"That feels so much better," Wufei muttered when he was done, running his fingers through the clean, unknotted strands, leaning up to kiss Trowa in thanks, a small smile on lips that made Trowa want to do nothing all day but kiss them again and again, over and over.

Unfortunately he didn't have that luxury.

"You're very welcome," he murmured, getting out first and drying himself off quickly before helping Wufei out, getting dressed while Wufei dried himself off. Then Trowa put the toilet seat down and had Wufei sit. He took his time combing the excess water out of Wufei's hair, then carefully combed it into sections that would fit between the plug slots and braided it through into a series of corn rolls. It didn't suit Wufei too well, but it would keep his hair out of his face, in a neat, tidy manner, and it would avoid getting dirt into the plugs. Then he cleaned out each plug and got him bandaged and by then he was running late for work.

Wufei still grabbed his hand as he was hurrying out the door and pulled him back for one last kiss and there was a hint of worry in it. Trowa wondered what Wufei knew, that he was suddenly concerned, but when he said nothing Trowa surmised it was just fear without a cause and that he could understand so he just gave Wufei the kisses he wanted, and hurried after Duo.

"You got any idea what spooked Wufei?" He asked as he caught Duo at the shuttle bay and they stepped on together.

"No clue, though Heero mentioned he didn't stay plugged in long yesterday. But Wufei didn't talk about it and you know Heero, he didn't ask the right questions about it. So no clue."

Nodding, Trowa took a seat and they caught the shuttle to Level 3 in silence. There was no time to have a sit down breakfast, so they ordered coffee to take away, apologising to Tracey for not staying to talk and hurried off. Duo caught the shuttle down to Level 2 before splitting off to run an errand for Heero and Trowa felt the loneliness keenly as he sat alone down to Level 1. Everywhere he looked, people were talking to friends they'd known for years. They all had things to ask one another, stories to catch up on, jokes they shared. Trowa felt an intruder, and wanted to go back to His Room.

That wasn't a possibility, and he clocked in and headed for Hanger101.

Giles was already there when Trowa arrived, and he suspected he had been there most of the night, though he must have left at some point because he had a pile of sandwiches half eaten beside him. The controller was well into production on the table; a container had been beaten out of some scrap sheet metal and the sliders had been cut into the surface, part of the wiring already laid out in the guts of the device. It was an exceptional amount of work to have gotten done and Trowa just shook his head, going over to clap a hand on the man's shoulder and squeezing gently. Some people were worth having as friends. Giles certainly fell in that category.

"Triton!" Hatty was smiling, or at least he assumed that was supposed to be a smile. He face did seem to be sitting a little better against her mechanics and Trowa wondered if Giles had fixed it properly, or if Hatty herself had done something, but he wasn't game to ask.

"Good morning, Hatty."

"Did you enjoy sleeping with your boyfriend again? You seemed to like it when he woke you up!" It made Trowa pause, frowning again, not sure how to make her understand it wasn't okay to keep spying on him. Them, because if Wufei found out Hatty could become a heap of scrap metal before she ever knew what she had done.

"I enjoyed it," he agreed softly, going over to look at the list of components they needed to complete. Giles had ticked off a few more overnight and he checked them over where he had piled them on the end of the bench. Each was as well crafted as the other, showing no sign of the rush they had taken to get them made, so Trowa put them down and gathered the pieces he needed for the final pieces, leaving Giles to work on the controller.

"Can I sing again while you work?" She sounded so excited by the idea that Giles and Trowa just nodded, not even bothering to lift their heads or check with one another and Hatty cried out in delight and broke into song. It wasn't anything Trowa recognised and he didn't care. It quickly became background noise as he bent his head to the task quite literally at hand.

He finished the last pieces of the replica and sent them through to His Room, along with instructions on how to assemble it in case Heero and Wufei were feeling adventurous, or Duo got back and was bored. Then he got to work helping Giles on the controller. Two hands made easier work of assembling it, but then they had to work on the programming, which was far more difficult and they sat together, huddled in front of the laptop trying to design an interface that would be easy to use, that would also integrate and override the old System.

They were so absorbed in their task they didn't notice the blinking light on the System window. They didn't realise Hatty had stopped singing, nor see the look on her face. The lights under her skin turned a rich purple and the scream that tore from her throat was what finally drew their attention. Trowa looked up as Hatty threw herself off the back of the table, tearing at the pins in her head, flinging them away and crawling away into a dark corner of the Hanger. Seeing her haul her torso across the floor made Trowa feel ill and he staggered out of his chair, going after her, catching up in a few short strides and kneeling beside her, pulling her close and forcing her to still. She threw her arms around him and Trowa didn't know what to do.

"Hatty...stop. Stop now, Hatty. What's wrong? What happened?"

"The bad man is trying to get me! Don't let him get me, please Trowa, I don't want to disappear, please don't make me go near the bad man!"

The what now? Trowa just blinked at her and tried to decipher what she was saying but it made no sense.

"I think she means Frank," Giles said softly and Trowa turned to see him squinting at the laptop. "There's a flurry of activity on our network link, it's not enough to have been Hatty."

That made sense, though what Frank had been trying to do was a mystery. Trowa nudged Hatty and helped her get up into a sitting position again.

"Okay, come on, back to the table. Don't be scared, Giles and I are with you." Scared. Really? She was a damn machine, she wasn't supposed to know what fear was, let alone freak out. It was a human response and maybe it was programmed but it sounded real and the expression on her face was too accurate. Giles looked as equally disturbed as he felt, which made Trowa feel only marginally better.

"Hatty, what happened?"

"He came...he wants to erase me! She was holding him back but she's not strong enough!"

Nataku? Trowa didn't think there was anyone else Hatty could mean and winced. Nataku was in there because of them. She'd sacrificed herself to save Wufei and while she'd seemed to have her own reasons for doing so he wasn't sure how much of it was just that she'd been programmed to do it. There was a very real chance she regretted it now, whatever her original reasons for going in.

And if she wasn't succeeding in holding Frank back, what did that mean for the rest of them? And what was the point in leaving her there if she wasn't achieving anything?

"Why does he want to erase you, Hatty?"

"I don't know!" She wailed and covered her face with her hands, head lowered. It was so human, hiding and if she had been capable of crying Trowa knew she would have had tears to match the weeping she did, shoulders shuddering as she sobbed.

"It's okay, Hatty. You're fine. You didn't let him catch you, you're too clever for him!"

She peeked out between her fingers and Trowa watched as she very slowly started to smile and her arms carefully fell away, fixing the hat on her head straight again. She looked almost bashful...a little shy, like a teenage girl who just got a compliment.

"Really?" No, not really at all.

"Of course. You're much more important to us than he will ever be." That at least was true at this point. She was the only chance they had, and Trowa suspected Frank had figured it out.

"We're running out of time," Trowa whispered, more to himself than the others, but Giles nodded in agreement and tossed Trowa the soldering iron.

"You get the circuitry finished, I'll complete the program."

"Giles..."

"I've read all of Harrison's journals. Trust me, I know what I'm doing. Harrison was never a good military man, he's left holes in his System. They're small, but they're there."

Trowa nodded, because there wasn't time to argue about it and he looked up at Hatty, hesitating only a moment before holding out some of the pieces to her and explaining what he wanted her to do with them. She had hands, she could use them like the rest of them. He wasn't going to discriminate against an extra set of hands.

"We're building a new System?" Hatty asked quietly.

"Yes, Hatty."

"So He won't be able to find me anymore?" He would, but she would want him to, but Trowa didn't bother trying to explain that yet. Instead he just smiled reassuringly at her and helped her lodge what she'd made into the tray Giles had constructed.

Piece by piece it all slowly came together. Even Hatty had burn marks up her arms by the end of the day and Trowa's hands were so sore he'd almost lost all feeling in them. Giles looked only marginally better.

"I need to sleep," Giles admitted softly. "We'll make mistakes if we don't take a break." Trowa had to agree, not sure how much longer he could keep it up and wanting to see Wufei anyway. Hatty grabbed out before either of them could move and wrapped both arms tight around Trowa's shoulders, hauling him back against her chest with inhuman strength.

"Hatty! What the hell!"

"You have to stay here!" She sounded scared. The whole mess was starting to bug Trowa more than he wanted to admit.

"Hatty, Frank doesn't have a body. He's not going to come after you. You don't need to be afraid, you're not plugged in right now!" How could something so intelligent be so dumb?

"I don't care, I want you to stay with me! If you want to sleep with your boyfriend he can sleep here too, but you have to stay with me!"

"Hatty, we talked about this," Giles chided her, and Hatty glared at him, face caught in the expression of a petulant child. It was clear she remembered what was said, but her hold on Trowa didn't ease. If anything it tightened.

"Hatty! You're hurting me." She wasn't, but she didn't know that and Trowa was rewarded with a light yelp and a gradual easing on her grip that allowed him to slip out and turn to glare at her. "Listen to me, Hatty, and listen very well. I sleep in My Room. I sleep with my Boyfriend. I do not sleep with you. Do you understand?"

She dropped her face in her hands and cried. There were no tears, but that was irrelevant. Giles and Trowa stood there and just watched her, not sure what to think, or do about it. What was the standard procedure for dealing with a sobbing robot? He doubted there was a precedent.

"Hatty. Giles needs to go home and rest as well. We want you to rest, okay? Sleep, if you need to. And do not plug in to the System until one of us gets back, okay? Can you do that for me?"

"For you?" She peeked out from behind her hands again and Trowa sighed. This was worse than dealing with a child. At least a child had an excuse. What sort of excuse could a robot possibly have?

"Yes, Hatty. For me. Please?"

"O...okay, Triton. I can do that."

"Good girl, Hatty. You're a really good girl." But he was going to have to leave his laptop to run the Molecularizer since Hatty wasn't connected, and he just hoped he didn't end up needing it for anything in His Room while they were assembling the replica. Or worse, that Hatty decided to have a play with it while they were gone. It was hard to know just how capable she was of doing things on her own. She appeared to need directions from them to do things, but what if she found a way to just do something? What if it was a disaster?

Forcing himself to stop thinking about it took effort but he grabbed his things and went to the Molecularization pad, turning to look at Hatty one last time.

"Be good, Hatty. I'll see you in the morning."

"Okay, Triton." She really didn't need to sound so depressed about the whole thing. Trowa felt like he was stomping on baby turtles.

He didn't have time to get his head straight in the shower. The door opened and Duo was there, and Trowa knew as soon as he saw Duo's face. He wondered why he hadn't thought of it earlier, when Hatty had first freaked out but maybe he just hadn't wanted to. The connections were there, Wufei's edginess that morning, and his apparently dodging the System yesterday, but regardless of the warnings Trowa knew he wasn't ready for it. He stumbled out into the main room and stared at Wufei on the bed.

There was no sweat, no shaking, no mad thrashing as there had been when Wufei had been in withdrawals. There was nothing, just a still body and closed eyes and Heero fiddling with the Computer as if he might find a way to fix it. Trowa staggered to the bed and sat beside Wufei, reaching out to stroke one of the corn rolls he'd put in that morning, remembering Wufei's small, happy smile. There was no sign of it now.

"Wufei?"

No reply. He bit his lip and looked up at the ceiling, struggling to maintain control and think while his eyes ached. Had Hatty known, or just been too pre-occupied with her own peril to notice? If she'd known, had she tried to make him stay with her so he wouldn't find out? Was it out of jealousy or a desire to protect Trowa from the hurt he was feeling now? How vindictive could a robot be?

But he was just upset and coming up with increasingly unlikely scenarios. Knowing it didn't make anything easier to deal with.

"We don't know what happened. He was fine, talking to us on the message board, then he swore and he was gone. Just...like this." Duo sounded as worried as Trowa felt, and he didn't know half of it.

"It was Frank," Trowa said softly. "He went after Hatty too but she disconnected herself in time." And if only he'd stopped to think Hatty wouldn't be the only target. But if he'd come home earlier they wouldn't have gotten half of what they had done finished, and he would still be where he was now, sitting at Wufei's side unable to do anything.

"We wondered," Heero admitted softly but he didn't try to interfere in any way, for which Trowa was grateful. He couldn't take Heero saying anything smart right now, or implying there might have been some way to have avoided it. Heero was the reason Wufei had been connected to begin with, encouraging him in his suicidal mission so that he wouldn't feel useless. Trowa considered comatose to be pretty useless and it was taking all his self restraint not to get up and beat the crap out of Heero.

Climbing into the bed beside Wufei, Trowa lay next to him and watched him quietly, reaching out to run the tip of his finger down Wufei's nose. He had a cute nose, small and a little flat, round at the tip, giving him a smooth profile. There was no sign of a haughty frown Wufei often sported, or the angry tilt that pulled his brows down on a regular basis. Completely relaxed, Wufei was oddly androgynous, and it annoyed Trowa. Wufei had never seemed small or sick before Frank. He'd never missed a day of work. Look at him now.

Anger rose in Trowa, a slow insidious dragon that uncoiled in his guts and rose through his muscles. It wasn't Heero who was responsible for this, and it wasn't even Frank. Not really. There must have been some subtle sign on his face because Heero frowned and lunged to catch his arm but Trowa slipped free, scooping up the folders Duo had assembled on each of the people who sat in a position of power inside Frank. These were them, the culprits and the reason Wufei was here at all. And it was definitely time they paid a price as high as Trowa had paid.

"Trowa," Duo called warningly but he ignored him, reading as quickly as he could while still absorbing all of the information. Room numbers, ID tags, injuries, allergies, occupations, recent deals, history, family...he let it all sink in before dropping the folders on the floor and going to shower.

He ran the water cold deliberately, needing to be as awake as possible. He dressed in his blacks and packed his favourite pistol and a set of knives. Duo watched silently, sitting on the side of the bed, not saying a word or trying to tell him what to do because they all knew Trowa wouldn't listen. Instead, Heero quickly pulled on his blacks and grabbed his own gun, tucking it away in the back of his trousers and stuffing a few extra things in his bag.

Trowa didn't care. If Heero wanted to follow him and make sure he didn't do anything, Trowa wasn't going to stop him, but he wasn't going to guarantee he wouldn't do anything stupid. He wanted blood, right now. Every minute he spent getting ready was another minute Wufei lay still on the bed, and another minute for the dragon within to rise up until Trowa felt consumed by the rage. On the outside he was deathly calm, but inside...no robot could understand what was within.

He didn't wait for Heero, going to the bed and kissing Wufei's forehead before leaving, striding down the hallway to the shuttle and hopping on. He didn't care that people stared, whispering around him. He didn't care that they shifted away when Heero joined him. They didn't matter.

"Do you have a plan or are we just doing something stupid?"

"Something stupid," Trowa ground out immediately and he knew it was, and it wasn't like him at all but sometimes you just had to roll with the punches and see where you landed. Frank hadn't just punched him, he'd ripped his insides out through a gaping hole in his chest and Trowa was going to do the same. Eventually. He was tired of investigating and letting Frank call the shots. It was time to get a step ahead, and stay there.

"They've increased security on Level 5..."

Trowa just stared at him as if he had grown a second head and Heero shrugged. Yes, they were Gundam pilots and accustomed to this sort of thing, but that didn't mean the soldiers were completely useless. It just meant the security detail didn't stand the best chance, which was fine with Trowa. He didn't need to be reminded, but he suspected that was what Heero was trying to do. Remind him he was thinking about going on a killing spree, and really Heero should be happy considering it was what he'd been wanting to do since they'd arrived.

"Killing them won't stop Frank," Heero tried one last time.

"It'll make me feel better," Trowa ground out, then smirked at Heero, resembling the mask he had worn during his time in the circus, and not seeing much difference between then and now. "Besides...I didn't say I was going to kill them." That would be far too easy, and Une would yell at him and the paperwork would be disgusting and if Wufei woke up..._when_Wufei woke up, Trowa would be too busy trying to keep his job and stay out of prison to spend time with him. Killing them wasn't worth it, even if he knew he would eventually get away with it.

They moved quickly once they reached Level 1. Heero had bought his gas canisters again and kept knocking out the guards at each room they wanted, frustrating Trowa who wanted badly to knock some heads together. It became almost a game to see who could get there first, Heero growing increasingly smug with every canister he let off, Trowa feeling increasingly incensed. Heero broke down a door and Trowa strode into the room, gun in one hand and a knife ready in the other. When the man lifted a gun of his own Trowa felt no qualms whatsoever about tossing the knife at his wrist, disabling him and by the time he'd finished crying out in disbelief, Trowa had kicked the gun out of his hands and had his own pointed at the man's head.

"Tie him up...make sure he can still walk," Trowa ground out and Heero obeyed, hands weaving around the man, fixing his hands behind his back and trussing him as best he could while still letting him walk.

The next one wasn't much different, but the third a woman came out and screamed at them, begging them not to take him and to please understand that she loved him and it didn't matter what he'd done wrong because they should understand her pain and be forgiving. Trowa kicked her as hard as he could, feeling nothing as she tumbled backward and had Heero tie the man to the other two, dragging them along down the corridor as he moved on to the next apartment.

This one had children and Trowa took them to their room and slid them under the bed and told them to stay there until they were sure he had gone, and then followed the same routine. Every plea for mercy fell on deaf ears, every cry of anger only fuelled his own. He hated these people, and he intended to ensure they never hurt anyone again. But short of killing them, he was going to need Quatre's help and in the meantime he refused to let them just wander wherever they felt.

They weren't paying for it if they could go anywhere and do anything. Unlike Harrison, who'd given his life for them, or Giles who'd lost so much and yet still found so much to give, without any acknowledgement. Unlike Hatty, who waited in the dark with only the beat of her own heart for company. Everyone else was paying for the greed of a few rich men, and Trowa couldn't tolerate it any longer.

"Where are we taking them?" Heero nodded his head at the trail of nine men he was hauling around on rope reigns and Trowa found enough sense to pause and think about it.

"Down," he grunted, but he went to the last man's Computer and turned it on, switching through to his message board and praying for a small miracle.

'Hatty, are you plugged in?'

Everyone was staring, waiting, and even Heero looked ready to lose patience before the reply came, but Trowa waited.

'I am.' Trowa grinned.

'That's my girl. Hatty, I need you to access the eye. It doesn't matter if Frank sees you do it, but you're going to have to do it really quick. I want you to access it, find my location right now, and have the eye Molecularize everyone in this room into Hanger101.'

Again, she was silent for a long time and Trowa wondered if she was ignoring him, if she was perhaps still throwing a tantrum from earlier but then he felt strange and knew she was just using the time to get the job done.

The transfer had them all doubled over and several of the men threw up, which gave Trowa the time to stumble to the cage in one of the corners and check it over for damage. There was none. Trowa wasn't sure why it was there, but he suspected Harrison hadn't completely trusted his creations and had kept them there. Or, his other theory was that this was where they had altered Wufei, and they'd kept him in the cage until he was ready to merge with Frank as the Origen. Either way it disgusted Trowa, but was perfect for what he needed.

"What, one prisoner wasn't enough?" Heero grumbled but Trowa ignored him, shoving the men in one after the other before turning back to Hatty, his grin feral as he wandered over to her and gave her a high five.

"Thank you, Hatty. That was very well done."

"Thank you, Triton. It was very hard, but I found a way." Yes she had, and while Drank would know they were up to something and it wouldn't take him long to figure it out, it was too late to do anything about it and Trowa drew an imaginary point on his figurative wall under his own name, and nothing at all under Frank's.

"Heero, I need you to go back to My Room and finish the Molecularizer."

"What about you?" Heero was watching the prisoners but walked backward to stand beside Trowa. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Hatty reached over to play with his hair, examining it closely with wide eyes. She was lucky Heero didn't put a hole through her. Instead he just glared before turning his attention back to Trowa.

"Duo's right. You make weird friends." As if that even mattered right now!

"Someone needs to guard them...I can do that from here, and I need to finish the controller Giles and I have been building. Hatty and I have work to do, so please...go finish the replica."

Heero still didn't move and Trowa barely restrained himself from throwing him to the ground when a firm hand landed on his shoulder, but Heero just squeezed and turned to the Pad, going to stand on it and waiting patiently.

"Wufei will be okay."

Trowa sent him back to His Room quicker than was necessary, then leant against the desk and hung his head, taking deep, shuddering breaths. The men in the corner were making too much noise so he tossed a gas cansiter in with them and watched them topple over. Far too easy...it was too easy for something that was so complex. He turned to look up at Hatty, who was just watching him curiously. Trowa reached up and turned her hat around so it was on backwards.

"Why?"

"Because it looks cool. And because we have some hard work to do and not much time to do it in. Will you work with me, Hatty?"

"Of course, but...Triton?" He didn't want to talk and glared up at her. She was entirely unperturbed by his scowl and simply continued to watch him.

"Why aren't you sleeping with your boyfriend?"

"I don't have time to sleep, Hatty." He refused to let the tears come. He could fix this, he could...and he would! If she would just help him.

Cold arms reached out and tugged him in against the squishy, plastic casing of her chest. He almost pulled away, brought his hands up to shove when the sound penetrated and his ear hovered uncertainly over her heart. His heart. Beating. He let Hatty hold him in a cold embrace, let her sing softly under her breath while she pet his hair.

"Don't worry, Triton. We're going to wake him up," she promised and the words didn't sound like a machine at all.

"Yeah, Hatty." He pulled away and checked where Giles was up to in the program, not surprised when Hatty started singing again as soon as his fingers started typing. But she paused and he saw the smile from the corner of his eyes that wasn't her usual smile. This seemed darker, and far more human. He didn't like the way she looked down at him, and then she whispered to him.

"And then we're going to make them pay."


	19. Chapter 19

19:

"Trowa…" Giles staggered off the Pad and gaped at the cage of unconscious prisoners but Trowa ignored him, Hatty holding a plate down for him while he welded it into place. He could hear Giles shifting around behind him and then the man was at his side, rubbing his stomach and staring at the completed desk with wide eyes.

"You're nearly done…" Trowa didn't bother replying, because that was obvious. Giles inspected it, leaning down to peer through the back of the casing and shaking his head at the amount of work Trowa had completed before pointing to the cage.

"You've been busy…" Again, that was obvious. Trowa was getting really tired of the man stating the obvious but he finished welding the last piece and put it aside before looking at Giles sternly, a little jealous the man looked so well rested.

"You have prisoners," Giles pointed out softly. Trowa just glared at him and Giles winced, rubbing the back of his neck while he struggled to think of something to say that wasn't going to make Trowa think killing him was a good idea, not that Trowa intended to but the look on his face left Trowa feeling only vaguely annoyed at himself for taking his anger out on the man. He doubted it was a good thing when unprovoked rage toward your friends became normal.

"Frank got Wufei," Trowa admitted softly and Giles had the sense to swear, looking about the room and Trowa wondered why it seemed prisoners were the logical response. It had seemed like a good idea at the time? Unlikely that would stand up in court.

"I would have expected you to kill them. You were going to kill me…" And Giles hadn't done half what those men had done. But they hadn't disturbed Trowa's plans either, they'd just pissed him off for the last time.

"I'm stealing time. Like they stole mine." Years of it, with loved ones and friends. Time to dream and hope and think of a future he'd thought he wasn't going to get when he should have been living it. All of it their fault. So he was stealing the time back, and taking some of theirs. And he wasn't even making them clean dirt out of elephant toes, so really they should have been thanking him.

Giles was quiet, just studying him and Trowa could see him throwing up the likelihood of surviving pointing out that Trowa was a little insane right now, but he didn't care. If he was crazy, then it felt good to be crazy. He wanted revenge, but more importantly he wanted it over, with Wufei safe and getting the care he needed. Even if that meant going back to the Circus to alleviate his boredom and handing his licenses back over to Preventers for 'safe keeping.' You know, just in case he really lost it and decided taking over the world would be a good idea.

"Alright," Giles finally sighed. "I'm assuming you have a plan?"

"I do," Trowa admitted, but he didn't divulge it immediately, sating his own masochism by keeping it close to his heart a little longer, focusing instead on completing the control desk, relieved when Giles didn't try to get any more out of him but instead reached in to help.

Three sets of hands made fast work of what remained and Trowa pulled away while Hatty and Giles went about clipping the back onto it, finally completing the monstrosity. They stood around it and pride swelled Trowa's chest as he reached up to give Hatty a high five. Giles didn't seem impressed by their camaraderie.

"So, this plan of yours?"

"I'm going to load a virus into Hatty, and then Molecularize Nataku out of the capsule upstairs, and at the same time Molecularize Hatty into it. The virus will delete a lot of the directives Frank is following as well as establish a human controller as the decision maker, through the console here."

Giles went to the laptop immediately, examining the virus Trowa had made and sitting down heavily in the chair. He looked at Trowa and Hatty, shook his head and scrolled down the seemingly endless page.

"You think it'll work?"

"Frank has to connect with the Origen, and has to take the information it feeds him. It'll work." It had to, because if it didn't Hatty couldn't be a substitute for the Origen, incomplete as she was, and Frank would end up conscienceless, and that would be that. There would be no way to stop him short of blowing up the station, which Trowa had to admit at this point wasn't seeming as horrible an idea as it had been. He knew he wasn't in the sanest frame of mind, but he didn't care. His anger at what had been done to Wufei had finally consumed him, and if that same anger could help get Wufei help sooner, then he'd embrace it a hundred times over.

"What do you need me to do?"

Trowa thought about it seriously, trying to sort out everything that had to happen and the timing of it, but really there was only one place for Giles and Trowa just rolled the chair Giles was sitting in over to the control desk.

"Be ready to take control. It'll be obvious when it happens, there'll be an endless information stream coming in."

"And Hatty will be gone," Giles said softly, looking up at her sadly.

"I'll be gone?" Hatty frowned, looking at Trowa for confirmation. He just sighed and shook his head.

"Not gone, Hatty, just...in hiding. You'll be special, like Nataku. You'll be the Origen."

"And you'll love me?"

How did she always blindside him with questions she shouldn't have even thought to ask? Her preoccupation with amorous desire annoyed him most of the time, but in the last few hours it had changed to a reckless ache in his chest. What if she really did know what love was? What if she was capable of being the Origen, if somehow she'd altered her own state between the time Harry had turned her off and he had switched her back on? What if she could feel? What if she knew what love really meant? If she felt the same hole eating its way through her chest as he felt in his own?

A deep breath helped to clear his head and he nodded to her. She was just a machine. Just a tool to get what he needed. Right.

"I'm going to check on Wufei. I'll send a message to the board when we're ready to execute. We'll set up the replica Pad there, and if we're successful installing Hatty and the virus, we should be able to move between My Room and Hanger101 easily afterward."

Giles just nodded and waved him off and Trowa headed to the Pad, giving Hatty the signal and bracing himself as he blinked and appeared in the shower, stepping out and ignoring the way his body protested the movement. Nataku was right, it got easier to just ignore it when you had the right attitude toward it. The right attitude being that nothing else mattered except getting back to Wufei and ending this madness.

"Tro..." Duo hesitated as he came out of the bathroom, but Trowa ignored it, going to the bed and sitting beside Wufei, taking his hand and squeezing gently.

Wufei opened his eyes but they took far too long to track to his face and his smile was forced as he stroked the inside of Wufei's wrist.

"Hey." He looked terrible. Thin and worn and in pain. His eyes were bloodshot, his skin shone with a fine layer of sweat and Trowa cursed the withdrawals.

"He's too weak to drink the tea," Heero noted softly. "We've been giving him small amounts, but it's taking a while since he's not getting a decent dose in one go."

Trowa didn't want to hear it and just shook his head, leaning down to rest his forehead against Wufei's, closing his eyes and letting it sink in that Wufei was at least awake. He could deal with awake. Awake was one step closer to home and safe.

He turned to Duo and Heero, still holding Wufei's hand in his own, taking a deep breath and trying to explain what he had planned. They listened with matching frowns, sharing a look when he was done and then shrugging.

"Better than anything we came up with," Duo admitted. And just like that they were moving, packing up everything they'd brought with them, shoving things back into bags and hauling out the Pad they'd finished assembling overnight and Trowa inspected it while they got their things together.

They'd done an excellent job, following his instructions perfectly but it still felt odd not having tested it so he grabbed a jar of jam and put it on the Pad, hooking it all up to Heero's laptop and sending it through to Giles, waiting patiently for something to show up on the message board.

"Any bread to go with that?" It finally asked him and Trowa grinned.

"Not right now."

"Okay, it works," Duo rolled his eyes. "But the magnetic field is still on, so I'm not testing it on myself until it's turned off. Trowa had to agree, testing it on a human now would be unwise, which was why he hadn't bothered finishing it off before now. Besides, he'd thought he would only need it to get them out of Frank, now it was fast becoming a second port of call for getting around Frank. Changing its use altered what he needed it to do, so he was fine tuning. And sending jam. Everyone liked jam, right?

"Triton?" He blinked, looking up at the message board because Giles didn't call him Triton and wondering what Hatty wanted now. He didn't have time to deal with her having another tantrum about him not spending enough time with her, or sleeping with her, or whatever it was she wanted now. Especially not if she was going to start doing it in front of Heero and Duo.

"There are ships outside."

"Quatre," Heero breathed immediately and Trowa hoped he was right, but frowned at the plural.

"How many?"

"It's hard to say, they're still arriving, but at least thirty so far."

What, had Une sent a Preventers armada? Trowa looked to Heero, trying to see what he thought of it all, but Heero just shrugged. They should go through with their plan. Preventers being there just meant they had a way to get out as soon as they needed it. Provided Frank didn't pull his disappearing trick.

"You can't communicate with them?"

"No. All external signals are being jammed." Trowa had suspected as much but it was good to confirm. He wasted no time, helping Heero and Duo pack everything up and scanning it all on the Pad, making sure it had all their details.

"Okay. Are we ready to do this?"

"I think we should get Wufei out first," Duo put in suddenly. "I'll take him. You don't need me here, and I can explain what's going on to the others." Whoever the others were. Trowa just nodded and helped Heero load as much of their gear onto the Pad as possible before going to the bed and picking up Wufei.

"Don't," Wufei muttered, but his voice was so strained Trowa barely heard it.

"I need you out," Trowa murmured back to him, screaming with relief inside that Wufei would finally get some medical attention and be where Frank couldn't touch him. He ran the scanner for the Pad on Heero's laptop before contacting Hatty once more.

"Hatty. Can you get coordinates for the largest ship outside and send them to me so we can send some things over? We need a place on the ship that's likely to be empty!"

"I can." But would she? Trowa waited impatiently and jumped when the information came through on the Computer, typing it in to the Pad program and looking to Duo to make sure he was ready. He had Wufei slumped wearily against his side and a grim look on his face that left butterflies in Trowa's stomach but he nodded.

And then they were gone and Heero was strapping on a belt and holster, shoving in a gun and tossing the rest of his belongings into a bag in the corner. Trowa hurriedly did the same, making sure there was nothing forgotten before going back to the message board and contacting Giles.

"We're ready. You?"

"Ready. Hatty is sending through Nataku's profile to load."

Trowa waited for it, surprised by the complexity compared to his own but not having time to consider what it meant. He looked at Heero and saw nothing but cold determination there. It helped steel Trowa's own nerves and felt oddly like old times. Heero suddenly grinned and Trowa knew they were on the same page.

"Okay. We're good to go," Trowa sent to Giles. "Count down when you're ready and we'll activate on your count."

Heero came closer, as if he could help by merely staring at the laptop, but Trowa just waited patiently until the countdown came through the Computer.

Five. This had really better work, because he'd come up with this plan and if it didn't work Heero was standing right there with a gun on his hip and he might just snap and kill him. Which would suck, since Wufei was now back with Preventers finally getting some help and would be okay and dying now would defeat the purpose of coming here to save him in the first place. Not that he had known at the time that that was what he was doing...

Four. But once he realised that was what he was doing there, Trowa had tried damn hard to do the mission, to get everything done when all he wanted to do was rush back to His Room and spend time with Wufei. Instead he'd had to leave Heero to babysit, and that didn't set well with him at all! With either of them really, he was sure.

Three. Heero wasn't one for indecision, and Trowa had sat through several lunches in those early days while Heero glared at him, demanding to know what he was doing with Wufei. The idea of working up the guts to seduce Chang Wufei was foreign to Heero, who had thrown himself into the relationship Duo had merely hinted at with the same determined madness he did anything he cared about with. Those lunches had eventually pushed Trowa into acting and the game of courting Wufei had begun in earnest.

Two. Of course, that hadn't ended all that well, so he wasn't sure Heero should give up his day job to become a self help instructor. But Trowa had Wufei, so who was he to say it didn't work? Maybe the universe and Heero just conspired in odd ways the rest of the world couldn't fathom. Whatever the case, Trowa had few regrets. Nothing that had gone wrong was his fault, the only thing he'd done wrong was not follow Wufei. He should have tracked him down and found him and demanded a real answer.

One. So now he threw himself into a finale he wouldn't regret. Taking action felt good after the days of trying to bring the moment to fruition. Going home to see Wufei, knowing he couldn't do anything or get him home had stung, but that was over with. Now it was his turn to take charge.

The sense of satisfaction that consumed him as he hit execute and watched the data flow through was excruciating. Brilliant. Heero was already stepping up to the pad and Trowa turned to watch as the Pad activated, the red light flashing briefly before Nataku appeared, dripping in the same green sludge they'd pulled Wufei from, gasping for breath and rolling onto her side, coughing up the goo in a wet puddle. Heero stepped back and waited for her to finish before moving in and picking her up, taking her to the bathroom and pushing her into the shower, helping to wash her down, stripping her clothes off and fetching her fresh whites from the closet.

"Where...what happened?" She looked around, spotted Trowa and froze, face a mask of confusion as she struggled to work it out. Trowa left her to it, moving to the message board instead.

"Hatty?"

The pause was painful while he waited for Giles to respond, but he knew the longer it took the more hopeful it was. If he didn't respond right away, it meant Hatty wasn't monitoring the board.

"Information link is established. Secondary inputs are activating. Hatty's a success."

Trowa sat back with a heavy sigh and just stared at the board, amused that so much chaos from his week could come down to such a simple finish. There was still a lot to be done, but for now they had things under control, literally. A hand fell on his shoulder and squeezed. Trowa met Heero's gaze and nodded before looking at Nataku as she pulled on a shirt and squirmed until it was in a comfortable position.

It made him pause, watching her try to get comfortable because she shouldn't have cared. She should have pulled it on and been oblivious if it was crooked or inside out or just a bad cut, but she wasn't. She gave a damn and acted to fix the problem. It made Trowa think of Hatty and where she was and he hadn't expected the ache in his chest at all, rubbing at it with a hand that wanted to curl into a fist.

"Alright, we're coming through."

Trowa set the timer on the Pad and hurried over to stand beside Heero and Nataku, waiting impatiently as the seconds ticked by and then he was stepping into Hanger101, amused when Heero leant over, bracing himself on his knees and breathing deeply. All those evenings of needing time to recover in the shower suddenly felt less a weakness and more an inevitability. Though Nataku simply stepped off the Pad and strode forward.

"Look!" Giles was gesturing at the lights blinking on the desk and the endless stream of information coming in on the laptop and Trowa hurried over to take a closer look, a smile of his own making it onto his face.

"You...you uploaded a virus?" Nataku was stunned. "Harrison had said it wasn't possible."

"He wasn't thinking of you as a virus," Trowa pointed out, feeling pleased with himself, but also amused that he'd inadvertently just called Nataku a virus. Having spent days with Hatty, he was now confused by the feelings that were rising up in him when he looked at Nataku. She was the polished version, and while no fault of her own she was the reason Hatty had been deactivated. The price for Nataku's existence had been Hatty's life, what little of it there was. Ironic that Hatty had now usurped Nataku's place in the grand scheme of things.

"No, but...he was pretty adamant it wasn't possible," Nataku repeated, coming closer to get a better look at the control desk and the look on her face finally had Trowa worried. He looked at the desk, trying to see what she was seeing but it looked exactly as he expected it to.

"What's wrong?" It was Giles who eventually asked and Trowa waited impatiently for her to finish gaping at the desk and turn to meet their curious gazes. She looked nervous, which was odd considering she was a robot and shouldn't have known what nerves were.

"It's just...the System was designed so that if something went wrong, like a virus, Frank would be isolated from everything but essential systems."

"We know. That's kind of what we wanted."

"But it also drops the shield between Levels one and five, allowing Frank access to the military."

The silence was profound.

"Shit," Trowa and Giles cursed at the same time. Already reaching for the laptop, Heero used the backdoor he had hacked during the first few days in Frank to access Frank's database, swearing when he found the magnetic field was down.

"The military's already been mobilized," he noted coldly.

"I'll go," Trowa said immediately. "If they're mobilizing the SiS someone needs to protect the Preventer ships." He didn't wait for Heero to respond, trusting Heero and Giles to do whatever had to be done to slow Frank down and get things under control. They had Nataku as well, and who knew what she was actually capable of when Hatty had been so useful with only a fraction of her capabilities.

His own part in dealing with Frank had come to a halt the moment there was a threat to the Preventers outside, not because he felt loyalty to Preventers but because he'd let Duo evacuate Wufei to those ships. He went to the Pad and looked expectantly at Nataku, almost laughing as she rolled her eyes and went to plug herself in, hesitating only a moment before shoving the plug home. He wondered what it felt like, if it hurt and if she was scared of what Frank could do to her while she was plugged in, but he didn't ask.

"Heero...the prisoners are waking up," he pointed out, but then he was in the Hanger and he rushed to his Simulator, stalled halfway there by his commanding officer yelling at him to get in his damn SiS and Trowa was more than happy to comply, racing to the Fighter instead and climbing in. He stashed his backpack at his feet and went through the start up check before hesitating over firing up his Pad.

What if Frank was watching and waiting for him to try? What if he ended up several galaxies away? What if he just disintegrated into nothing?

"I am with you, Triton." Nataku's voice came through his helmet and Trowa jerked hard in response. If it was supposed to be reassuring, it wasn't, and Trowa found himself missing Hatty. Somehow, knowing Nataku was more complete, and hence more human, in Trowa's mind made her less trustworthy. He'd taken it for granted that Hatty only did as she was told, for the most part. Nataku could do anything she took it into her fool head to do.

"I'm hoping that means I'm going to come out on the other side," Trowa grumbled, hitting initiate.

"Perhaps," Nataku agreed, but it was too late, he was in that strange second of a jolt before he emerged on the other side, floating in his jump coordinate outside Frank. He scowled at the ship that materialized nearby, somehow knowing it was Nataku.

"Harsh, Taku. Way harsh!"

"You're alive, Triton. Suck it up."

She was learning them, much faster than Trowa had anticipated but somehow it only made him laugh. The way she learned, the sense of humour, the drive she felt to do the right thing...she really was human. And yet wasn't, just as she had told them what felt like a lifetime ago. Not that long ago really, it was just having Wufei back making the time he'd been gone feel like eons past. Time was such a strange thing.

"We have to protect the Preventers fleet long enough to let them escape. I've rigged my SiS lights with a blue neon light by covering the lens with the filter paper from the rear guidance system. Can you do the same?"

"I believe so."

Trowa wasted no time sending an encoded message to the Preventers fleet and Heero's laptop explaining that the SiS fighters with blue lights were friendly; the red were the bad guys. Only not really bad, they just didn't know any better which while sad and unfortunate was still going to get the sorry bastards killed and right then Trowa didn't really give a damn.

The lights on the nearby SiS turned blue and Trowa grunted in appreciation of Nataku's skills but otherwise gave it no thought, pushing forward and flying through their squadron to the front line of the Preventers, wasting no time in arming the weapons he had available and tracing the best path for his attack.

There wasn't enough time to make a strategy, the SiS opened fire immediately, storming forward in a swarm and it was all Trowa could do to move with them and head them off, aware of Hatty trying to do the same but in the end he supposed it had been a stupid idea from the start.

The first Preventers ship had no warning. The SiS destroyed in before a minute had passed from their exit of Frank, and a second ship followed seconds later. Trowa cursed and shifted toward the ship he thought Wufei and Duo would be on, intercepting a missile headed toward it and extending his shields into a disc array, covering the ship.

They didn't need to be told; the ships were already turning, trying to flee but the SiS were far more advanced and designed for close combat. They damaged each in waves, a constant rotating barrage and Trowa wasn't sure a Gundam would have fared well against them. They were too small and quick to target easily and if you managed to get a few there was no rest, always another coming in its wake. At least they weren't mobile dolls? But the thought was cold comfort as he saw Nataku trying to protect another of the fleeing ships. Would the mobile dolls eventually have evolved personalities? Would they have been wounded by the ethical dilemma humans often fell prey to in war? Would they have grown to resent the controller?

Hatty was a heavy weight on his conscience, her husky voice echoing in his memory. I love you.

"Barton!" Quatre's voice! Trowa's stomach dropped and he cursed silently. He wasn't supposed to be here! But there was no time to think on it, connecting the secure line and separating his points of focus to include the battle and his conversation.

"I'm a little busy here Winner," he ground out, unable to keep the anger from his voice that Quatre was here at all.

"Chang and Maxwell have been extracted. We're receiving a string of prisoners."

Startled, Trowa looked back at Frank and saw the eye was open, small pulses of light flashing across the lens. He thought it was probably Heero, and couldn't argue. The more of the brass they could remove from Frank the better chance they would have of taking control. If that was even possible. The flow of battle was not in their favour, the Preventers were thoroughly out-numbered. They had no chance of success, and internally they had little chance of wrestling control of the military back from a locked down system.

"Retreat, Winner." The damage was already done. Quatre was in charge of the fleet, and half of it had been destroyed already, debris scattered all around making it hard to position himself in a way to continue to shield the ships.

"Trowa..." Yeah, it was always hard to leave a man behind. But someone had to stay, and really this was his mistake and no one knew the situation better than he did. He was on the inside, whether Frank liked it or not.

"Get Maxwell home. He knows everything." And if it ever became known the fate of the universe now rested on Duo Maxwell he pitied the poor fool who would have to deal with the fallout. Even if that fool was Une. He closed the comms and did his best to give them the time they needed to retreat.

It wasn't easy, his SiS taking several severe hits that damaged key systems but it was solid and functioning and refused to give in, as much like Heavyarms as he could hope for.

"Triton?"

"I know Taku." They couldn't protect the ships any longer. They soon wouldn't be able to protect even themselves. He wondered if anyone had managed to track their SiS ID's and hoped not. The last thing they needed was to get arrested when they went back to Frank.

And it was becoming increasingly clear that was what he was going to have to do. Wufei was safe; the Preventers shuttle was leaving so he had achieved his goal. But what he was supposed to do about Frank or the ships dying around them he had no idea. He supposed he was meant to let it all go. Just let it happen, but that wouldn't make it any easier to watch.

"Giles?"

"I'm busy, Trowa!"

And he sounded it. Trowa frowned and tried to dodge his way out of the line of fire of several SiS while he contemplated the tone of voice. Frustrated, yes. Angry, a little. Scared...very.

"I believe the virus is not working as you had hoped," Nataku's voice stated clearly. Not emotionally. She was not like Hatty and it made him sigh, slumping a little in his chair as he saw her blue light flicker and die, turning red as her SiS wove its way back into the fray, disappearing amongst the masses and he was forced to do the same.

"You don't say," he grumbled at Nataku but he had no way of knowing if she was even listening. He kicked the pack at his feet, angry because he wasn't going home yet. He had no way of knowing how long it would be before he saw Wufei again. If, even. Life's unfair irony might yet be that he had to leave Wufei in order to save him.

How could such grand plans come to so little? He headed for the Hanger and de-Molecularized through to his bay, hurrying through the shutdown procedures just in case someone knew it had been him protecting the Preventers instead of Frank, hurrying to the train, unsurprised to see Nataku sprinting for it herself.

Lights were flashing a rich red, orders were streaming across the screens on the announcements scroll bar around the edge of the ceiling. Soldiers were running in all directions and Trowa just kept moving, trying to look like he was doing something equally important. No one noticed them.

"I am sorry you were unable to leave, Triton." And she actually looked it. Trowa just shrugged, taking a seat beside her on the train and wishing that willing it to go faster would work.

"I'm just glad I didn't park my car at the airport."


	20. Chapter 20

20:

"It's not working!" And it's nice to see you too, Giles. Trowa sighed and hurried over to stare at the information streaming through on the console and felt his stomach drop a little. There was just too much. The logisitics of running anything the size of Frank was beyond the capabilities of the technology they had available to them. He remembered the sheer size of Frank; miles upon miles of city levels, and one of those was just the computer core to run it all. And they had thought they could just hack in and take over.

Hindsight and all that jazz. Nataku's expression was cautiously blank, but Trowa heard her I told you so loud and clear.

"We should blow it," Heero coughed, materializing on the Pad and everyone just stared as he struggled to stay upright, getting his bearings.

"What are you doing here?" Trowa was pretty damn certain the plan had been to get off Frank.

"I could ask you the same thing," Heero pointed out, scowling and Trowa wondered if he was angrier about having to stay back to help Trowa or leaving Duo alone with Wufei, who would no doubt be equally pissed when he figured out what was going on. They should make a club. We're Pissed? On the Way? Over the Edge? There were so many possibilities for names, Duo would have a field day. Maybe it would be enough to entertain them back to Earth. Unlikely, but he could dream.

"We can't blow it up," Trowa muttered, still furious for completely different reasons. He could feel Heero glaring a hole in his back and sighed, wondering why he had to keep explaining things that he felt should be obvious to everyone. Only Heero probably didn't know yet.

"Quatre was with the Preventers."

"Shit!" And now he understood. Trowa sat down in one of the chairs and glumly spun, staring at the ceiling and trying to think of a solution.

"If Winner was here, the destruction of the ships will be enough to make people force him to step aside from many of his public roles, including Preventers. He will likely be forced to sell many of the involved shares, and Frank will step into the void it creates. This is exactly what he has been planning from the start," Nataku pointed out, as if they didn't already know it. It occurred to Trowa for the first time that Frank might have planned a lot more than they had ever given him credit for. What if he'd learnt about each of them from Wufei? What if he had known what Trowa would do if he was lured here? What if everything had been set up for them to do exactly as they had done?

Worse, without Wufei as Frank's conscience, was his main directive still to protect the human race, or was he trying to take over for his own purposes? What the hell purposes could a computer think up for itself? He eyed Nataku suspiciously and then sighed, shaking his head and trying not to get too carried away.

"If Frank buys Winner out, and we blow up Frank...it would lead to economic ruin. We'd land the Earth-Sphere in a Depression."

"I'm despressed already," Giles grumbled.

"You're depressed?" Nataku frowned at him and Trowa had to laugh at the expression that finally cracked her blank facade.

"Yes!" Giles defended himself. "This whole mess is depressing. Got a problem with that?"

"No?" And Trowa doubted she ever would. What did a robot care if a human found a situation depressing? He wasn't convinced she even knew what depression was, though if Hatty had shown evidence of emotions that should mean Nataku actually had them, or something. The whole thing was just plain creepy and he was getting tired of having to consider the implications of robotic emotions. Did they even have expressions or should he consider every look on their face some sort of advanced emoticon?

Trowa moved to the control panel and opened a message board.

'Hatty?'

No one spoke, Trowa wasn't even sure they breathed until so much time had passed he had to inhale or die and he cursed silently, knowing no reply was coming. The feeling of having sent a soldier to their death was all consuming, and reminding himself Hatty hadn't been alive didn't help at all. He could hear her singing when he closed his eyes.

"We need a strategy."

"A strategy for what?" Giles just looked at Nataku incredulously, but Trowa did his best not to simply agree. Nataku was just thinking ahead of them; looking at an endgame Trowa wasn't so sure they were even going to reach. He leant casually against the desk and let Heero drop into the chair so he could at least look steady on his feet.

"We have until the Preventers ships that survived get back for the crap to start over Winner," Heero pointed out grimly and Trowa just nodded. They wouldn't hesitate to go back at full speed with Wufei on board, wanting to get him to the best medical attention they could. Quatre would have it no other way, especially after losing men...again.

"A day or two at best," Trowa muttered, trying to decide what to focus on, but reminding himself Wufei was beyond his reach. He was in the hands of others, whether Trowa liked it or not. He was out of Frank, and that was a start, right? Unless of course Frank decided destroying Earth would be in their best interests and then he supposed being inside Frank was the safest place, in which case he'd sent Wufei to his death. Probably best not to think about that.

"If Frank is going to make an attack, he'll have to move in that direction without being seen."

"Have you forgotten how this mess started to begin with?" Heero was frowning. He always looked like an asshole when he frowned. "Big black box, appearing and disappearing at will?" Or maybe it was when he was being sarcastic? Trowa just rubbed his temples, willing the headache to go away.

"We need to take the military."

"From Frank?" Giles asked, just to clear things up. He sounded as though he thought it were impossible, and Trowa wasn't so sure he was wrong.

"You could just tell them who you are?" Giles asked, though he sounded sceptical.

"Oh yeah...let's tell the millions of people who fled the war that we're the guys who killed the most people in it. That'll go down a treat." Heero rolled his eyes and didn't stop spinning in his chair until he realised everyone was just staring at him.

"What?"

"You've spent way too much time with Maxwell."

"I'm sleeping with him, of course I'm spending too much time with him!" Heero sounded like he still wasn't quite sure how that had happened, but they both knew he wouldn't change it for the world and if Duo ever actually got into trouble where Heero could even inhumanly do something about it he would drop everything, Frank included, to be there. The only reason Heero was here was because he agreed that Preventers was safer right now. That, and who the hell knew what Wufei was going to do when he got some decent medical attention.

"So we need to take over upstairs. Shouldn't be too hard since you just shipped them all off to a Preventers prison," Nataku noted in a soft, even tone that didn't match her words at all. Trowa wondered if she thought that was what he had been thinking when he did it and found himself preferring she thought he had done just that. Because frankly he wasn't sure he hadn't just lost his shit completely, but these things happened when people threatened the things you loved, right? Heero would agree with him, right? That was why Heero had helped him, after all. Right? Right.

"Shouldn't be too hard at all..." Really, he thought that was going to be one of the easier things they'd had to do of late. It was actually taking control of the systems once they got up there that was going to be hard.

"We will have to assemble another Demolecularization Pad there," Nataku noted softly. "We can't trust Frank not to interfere with the core devices...It's safer to run our own system through the three Pads we have."

"Four," Trowa corrected. "We can rig the SiS to transfer to the other Pads as well as the workshop."

"Access to Level 1," Heero agreed, stilling his chair and looking hard at Trowa. If he was trying to converse silently, it wasn't working but Trowa didn't feel like telling him. If the man thought he had any kind of similarity to Duo and would subsequently be able to read his deadpan expressions, they were in more trouble than they realised, and fighting would be entirely pointless. "I'll man the central control area. I have the best chance of hacking the system." That, at least, Trowa agreed with.

"I will take the Hanger," Nataku put in immediately and while Trowa had been going to do it himself, he had to agree Nataku was the better choice. She knew everything about Level 1, and more importantly everyone seemed to know her, or at least allowed her access to anything she wanted. She had to have an inbuilt override, or something similar, but Trowa thought it a waste of time to figure out exactly what it was since they couldn't exactly remove it from her anyway.

"Giles and I will take my room and move around the station when required." He looked to Giles for confirmation and the man just shrugged.

"We have an effective set up here, if we can get it to work," he noted softly. "We should keep it manned as much as possible. We're going to need friends anyway...I believe I know a few."

"I might have one too," Trowa mused, not sure she would want to or could be trusted, but figuring it was worth a shot. "We'll team between Levels 1 and 5. Pool resources and see what we can come up with."

"We meet back here in twenty four hours with whatever we have," Heero agreed and he was already moving, grabbing the things he needed and heading for the Pad. Nataku wasn't far behind him. Giles seemed as reluctant to move as Trowa, but there were things to be done so Trowa sighed and forced himself to think, rubbing the back of his neck while he pondered the situation.

"Does anything seem off about all of this to you?"

Startled by the question, Trowa just blinked and waited for his lazy-feeling mind to track to the new line of conversation. Off? Like off as in odd? Well, Heero was involved and that always made things seem a little off to Trowa, because the guy was ridiculously set in his ways, but Trowa didn't think Giles had a problem with it. And sure, they were in a giant space station that was apparently self aware and had adopted the name Duo Maxwell, of all people, had given it, and really he supposed anyone who wanted to be named Frank was suspicious, but off? Franks weren't all serial killers, that Trowa knew of.

"Such as?" Really, he needed more information to make a decision on that one.

"Well, Frank's plan is pretty complex."

"For a machine, you mean?"

"For anyone," Giles corrected. "I don't know, I just get the feeling something is off. How does Frank know how to manipulate people? Nataku can't, nor can Hatty, so...how did he plan all this? It's not exactly very computer-like behaviour, right?" Whatever the hell computers were supposed to behave like.

It was a good question. Maybe something was off, but for the moment Trowa had a job to do so he just shrugged and went to the Pad, setting the coordinates for his room and picking up Hatty's hat before stepping on, putting it carefully on his head. Giles just smiled and waved and then Trowa was stumbling sideways, struggling to remain standing.

"Fuck Molecularization. Once I get off Frank I refuse to have my body broken down into nothing and remade ever again!" He muttered to himself as he struggled to grab some fresh clothes and get them on. It hurt, being in the room and seeing the rumpled bed and knowing he had been that close. That Wufei had slept in the same bed, right beside him. That they'd woken up together, and showered together and had meals together. Not in a conventional sense, sure, but it was the closest to happy Trowa remembered being in...a very long time. And how fucked up was that?

Something moved out of the corner of his eye and Trowa spun to stare at the message board, but it was blank, a single cursor blinking in the corner. He frowned and reached out to close to window, the image returning to the start screen. He still wasted a minute standing there, waiting for it to change but there was nothing and he knew he was just being paranoid. A deep breath, and Trowa was leaving, locking the door on his way out and heading for the temple and station.

It felt strange, to walk through the corridors and spaces of the station and realise for everyone else nothing had changed. There were likely signs of panic on Level 5, but here it was the same crowded, budy day to day movements of every other day Trowa had witnessed since his arrival. He wondered if anyone who worked in Level 1 found their sudden change from training to real action odd, and if they had even mentioned it to their loved ones. Surely...and yet, perhaps they saw no difference between training exercises and the real thing? Perhaps Frank had made real events seem like training exercises? It was certainly possible, and all things considered very likely.

He went to the temple first, taking the steps more slowly than he wanted, forcing himself to move as if it were any other day. He bought a set of prayer sticks and headed for the altar, lighting one of the incense sticks and waiting in line as he prayed, fervently in silence, that Wufei was okay and getting the help he needed. That Duo had told Preventers what was going on, and that Quatre had things sorted. That Heero and Giles were on top of things and would pull off their jobs. That Nataku really was on their side. So many words unspoken but sent to whoever might be listening. Momentarily, Trowa wondered if their prayers were goin to Frank; if he could somehow hear their thoughts and his own stilled to a halt.

But that was ridiculous! He wasn't plugged in and he breathed out forcefully slow, reminding himself he was getting increasingly paranoid and smirking wryly to himself because he hadn't been nearly so paranoid while Wufei was still at his side. How that made any kind of difference, he had no idea. Surely having Wufei there should have made him more on guard? Apparently not.

He lit one more stick of incense and sighed, looking at the thin trails of smoke, thousands of others wishes and dreams curling into nothing and something in his chest ached as he placed his last silent prayer amongst the others, to coil and dissipate with all the rest.

_Hatty. _

He turned faster than he had meant to, and to anyone watching he supposed it probably looked like he was fleeing the temple. And maybe that was because he was, but Trowa didn't look back. He went straight to the shuttle bay and got on the first shuttle to arrive.

A boy was sitting across from him, looking suspiciously familiar and Trowa had to stop staring because he was certain he probably had seen the kid before. Had likely sat just like this directly across from hundreds of children. He doubted children were planning anything. Not all children, after all, were Gundam pilots or the like.

The shuttle went through station after station but Trowa remained in a daze, running through things in his head and trying to figure out exactly how he had gotten to where he was. Honestly, he'd thought he'd done his dash when he sent Heavyarms into the sun. Surely he could have a normal life. Only the others had gone insane and decided to join Preventers, and Quatre had apparently taken offence to anyone attempting to be richer than he was and so Trowa had found himself stuck between helping his best friend control the known universe through money, and the man he was interested in and their trigger-happy friends who wanted to keep shooting things. And then Wufei had gone and given him hope before running away with it to become part robot with Frank.

Frank. Honestly, couldn't Duo have come up with anything better? But it was Duo, and Trowa wasn't all that surprised. Still...Frank.

And why the hell had it been Wufei? Out of all the people in the universe why did they have to choose Wufei? Sure, Trowa couldn't argue that Wufei was the bees knees, but he was the only one who was supposed to think that! Recruiting Wufei for a job as a control trigger for a giant cyborg was certainly not something Trowa had considered needing to protect Wufei against. Like, ever.

But here they were. And here the shuttle was, so Trowa got off and quietly made his way to his favourite diner, waving to Tracey as he came in and going to a booth in the back to wait. True to form, Tracey served those waiting in line first before appearing at his table with his customary coffee and muffin, a large smile on her face.

"Thanks, T."

"Always a pleasure, Mr Bloom."

"Please...Triton."

"Mmhmm." It almost sounded like she knew that wasn't his name and it made Trowa pause, but really it was why he had come here in the first place.

"I don't suppose you finish your shift soon?" In fact, he'd never been here when she wasn't on shift. He realised he knew nothing about her and nearly changed his mind, but they were after friends and he didn't have that many outside of Frank, let alone inside.

"I can close as soon as these customers leave?" She arched a brow and Trowa winced a little, hoping she wasn't expecting what he feared she was expecting. If she was it was just going to have to be something else to deal with and really, could dealing with an emotional woman really be any worse than dealing with a homicidal space station?

Perspective was everything.

"That'd be great." Didn't mean he didn't have to force his smile.

It was boring, waiting alone. For the first time in his life, Trowa thought he might actually miss Duo. Then he decided he was just bored. Like, really supremely bored. And how did that even happen when you had a mission to recruit some pals within twenty four hours by which point you needed to have a system up and running so you could somehow plan a coup for control from within the belly of the beast, so to speak? Was is life in any way boring, really?

Maybe he was just sulking because Wufei was off on a shuttle jaunt back to Earth? It was possible.

The last customer left and she put a closed sign on the door before coming over to his booth and sliding in the seat opposite, smiling brightly at him. Looking at that sunny smile it was suddenly very hard to think of the best way to broach the subject of her possible working for him. Particularly when he supposed inside Frank it was likely against the law to work against Frank.

"Hi." Yeah, because that was a great start.

"Hello," Tracey laughed at him and he couldn't blame her at all. He wanted to laugh at himself.

"So...you like...working with coffee?" Smooth, Barton, so smooth. Not.

"I suppose. Do you like working in infiltration and sabotage? Oh, and kidnapping! Hmm...and mass murder? I'm not sure you can put that one in there if it wasn't done deliberately or anything..."

Had he known how to gape, Trowa would have. Instead, his mind was running through the many ways he could kill her now, dispose of the body and hurriedly find someone else to help him. And she was laughing at him again.

"Harrison Jules liked my coffee." Of course he did. It was a small world after all. Especially when the population was limited to a specific three dimensional space.

"Right."

"He was a big fan of yours. Of all the Gundam pilots, really."

"Yeah...huge fan. Built a giant, sociopathic space station to escape us..." Was she insane? What the hell did she know? Was he really going to have to stab her with a coffee cup and use the meat grinder out the back to get rid of the body? Because that was gross!

"Stop thinking of ways to dispose of my body. Please. The lack of expression on your face is such a giveaway!"

Trowa just raised a brow and let his mind run away with itself. Maybe if he just took her tongue? But she knew how to write...

"Harrison didn't want to get away from Gundams. He wanted to get away from war in general. He wanted a world where everyone knew the score. Where everyone had a purpose and enjoyed it and just..._lived_. It was a nice dream."

"Was?"

"Well, you know. Station started killing people, Origen started plotting, random cute Gundam pilots started turning up and buying my coffee..." She shrugged as if it were an everyday thing and it was enough to win a laugh from Trowa and something in him finally eased. She wasn't freaking out, and she could have caused a lot of trouble for them long before now but she hadn't. She'd just waited him out. That was something, and right then something was so much better than nothing.

"The Origen started plotting?" Didn't she mean Frank? But then she probably didn't know its name. It was just 'the Station' and Trowa didn't like that at all! It sounded ridiculously ominous.

It made her sit back in her chair and she fiddled with the pen wedged behind her ear.

"I was in my room, just having a shower, getting ready for bed, usual routine you know? Was a while ago now, but a message appeared on my board. Three neat little points, you know how it is?"

Trowa sat up and glared, but he doubted it had the same effect as Yuy's with his hair in his face the way it was, but still. He gave it his best shot. What the hell was going on here?

"Settle down, geez! I did my job, it's all ready to go."

"_What_ is ready to go?"

"Ahh...no way. I'm not saying. If you weren't told, then how do I know you're supposed to know? Besides, if I tell you, you have no reason not to kill me with your coffee cup and put me in the meat grinder. That's so obvious, by the way? At least be more inventive than that!"

Trowa glared harder, fuming on the inside. He wanted to know what she knew, and why she knew it when he didn't. What had Frank done? Were they supposed to meet like this, was it all part of Frank's plan? Were they still falling into his grand scheme? Was nothing they tried ever going to avert them from disaster?

"I'm against the sociopathic station, just FYI?" She rolled her eyes and took his coffee, taking a long sip and sighing in pleasure before standing and fetching her keys.

"Well? Come on. We have work to do!" Honestly, you people drink way too much coffee and spend way too much time just sitting around pretending not to do anything. No wonder the space station went crazy and tried to take over the universe!"

Who the hell was this monster and where had the lovely, innocent coffee wench gone? Trowa got up on unsteady legs and followed her out, wondering where the hell they were even going. He didn't like not knowing exactly what was going on, and was off balance enough that he was struggling to just casually go with the flow.

"Harrison liked your coffee?" He asked as he sat next to her on the shuttle.

"Drank it every day, in a small coffee shop on L4 while he scribbled his plans. After a while he told me about this crazy idea he had to make a computer with a conscience...Eventually, I ended up moving here, when it launched, and he kept coming to my coffee shop every morning."

On the way to his lab? Did she really understand the importance of the information she had observed? Did she really know he was dead? Did she know how or why or was she just connecting dots as best she could?

"Why you?"

"Why you?" Tracey mimicked and Trowa folded his arms very deliberately across his chest. And then his legs, because you couldn't fold enough to show your displeasure.

"Let me guess...because you're so awesome?" She rolled her eyes and Trowa just glared, not thinking pretzels were all that awesome. "You sure have a huge opinion of yourself."

"Excuse me?" He had a what of himself now? He had an opinion on just about everything, it was true, but he didn't include himself in everything. Well...not often, anyway. And he certainly didn't share those opinions with the world!

"Yeeeah, the blank look? Not as blank as you think. I get it, okay? You were a big, bad Gundam pilot, you've got a license to do just about anything and a badge to let you get away with it, and here you are trying to save the universe and all that. But you still thought every time you smiled at me that my heart was melting into a gooey mess and I wanted to drag you home with me."

Okay, enough was enough! He needed the upper hand back, right the hell now! This was worse than the time Mari had convinced him dying Une's white shirts fluro pink for Apirl Fools was a good idea.

"You're wrong."

"About...what part exactly?"

"I'm not trying to save the universe. I just wanted to save ...the Origen." My boyfriend. My Lover. The only thing in the world I care about anymore. "And I figured it was Maxwell you wanted to sleep with."

"...Well. He is hot." And the upper hand was once again his. Trowa smugly unfolded his legs, but kept his arms crossed just in case.

They got off on Level 4 at Station 44. It made Trowa pause but he shook his head and wondered why anything surprised him anymore. Maybe it was coincidence but he doubted it. Not when she was from L4. She led him to her rooms and he followed her in, looking around at the familiar space, though hers was significantly larger than his own. She obviously made a significant amount of money in her coffee shop, or had brought a lot with her. Either way...maybe he should consider buying something on Level 5. He had the money, thanks to Frank's set up fund. Unless Frank had taken it away...he should check up on that.

She went to her closet and opened it to reveal neatly stacked shelves of clothes and one shelf of...stuff. He blinked and stuck his head in to get a closer look before he noticed the floor of the closet and shoved her clothes aside. Then all he could do was stare.

"You...have a Molecularization Pad in your closet."

"Oh. Really?" He didn't even need to look to know she was rolling her eyes at him. Trowa poked at it with his shoe but that was as close as he was willing to go for the moment. Who knew where that went?

He focussed on the shelf and it's magical three items, then blinked, reaching out to pull out two long mechanical structures and shaking them as if they might magically turn into something else.

"Legs?" They sure as hell looked like two legs. Short legs, but still...legs. And there was a small disk drive, a little old but it looked functional. The third was a strange looking orb that could have been used for fortune telling but who really knew.

"The three things I was told to build."

She was told to _build?_Trowa just stared, stumped because he hadn't been asked to build jack! And really, couldn't Duo have named Frank Jack instead? Why Frank?

"I'm assuming you had a reason for building these?"

"Well, technically I only built the legs and the orb? The disk drive I just had to store."

Right. None of which helped Trowa have any clue why the hell he needed mechanical legs. His own were fine, last he checked.

"Let's go."

How the hell had she gotten the upper hand again? Building crap on command should not have been enough to unbalance him from the top seat! Heero would never have fallen for it, Trowa was sure. And she was pointing at the Pad, and really who even knew where that went? She could be leading him to Frank, ruining their plans! She'd received commands, after all, just as they had and those had come from Frank. Right? How much of it had been Frank, and how much Wufei?

Giles had thought something was off about the whole thing...maybe this was just more of that?

"To get whatever you shoved in the Origen's place, of course!" Of course.

Trowa started to laugh and once he started it was remarkably hard to stop. He held up the legs and nodded to himself because okay, now he knew why he needed legs, and apparently Tracey knew how to build them so she should know how to install them. But how had anyone known that they would need legs? How much was planned, and whose plan was it...really?

"Trowa?"

"Ah, hell...whatever! Let's go."

_Hatty__'__s__waiting._

21:


	21. Chapter 21

21:

"Fuck this shit!" Tracey fell to her knees and puked. Trowa couldn't blame her; he agreed with the sentiment entirely. That didn't stop him from feeling superior as he carefully stepped around the puke and took a deep breath as he got his bearings. There was nothing but grey and for a minute he thought he was affected worse than he had thought, but then he realised it was a grey wall. A very solid grey wall.

"The lift to Level 6?"

"Yup."

"You built a Molecularization Pad in a lift?"

"Well, no...I didn't," Tracey corrected and the tone of voice clearly said she thought that should be obvious. "I'm not that old!" But how old she was seemed a little more a mystery than it had been a day ago, and that was strange, in Trowa's no longer so humble opinion. But stranger things had happened than coming back into being in a lift, so he didn't question why Harrison might have designed it that way. Perhaps he'd had some small inkling of the monster he'd created? Whoever had done it, it was useful so whatever.

Trowa pressed the up button and bit his tongue as it lurched to life, not helping his nausea at all. Still, it was worth it to see the look on Yuy's face when he stepped out to find Heero engrossed with hacking the system.

"Barton..."

"Yuy." It was so _nice_ to be able to play familiar games again. He wasn't taking to working with Tracey at all! When they got out of this mess, Wufei was coming back to Preventers and Trowa refused to ever change partners again. Ever. For anything. Other people had a terrible sense of humour!

"Who's she?"

"Tracey? She makes good coffee."

It won a snort from Tracey and Trowa felt his job was done but he made introductions anyway and then hoisted the legs he was carrying up where Heero could get a good look at them.

"She made these."

"Why?" Even Heero seemed disgusted, and that was pretty hard to do. The guy liked to reset his own bones, after all, and Trowa was pretty sure that one time Duo had dislocated his shoulder mid-mission and Heero'd had to reset it that the guy had enjoyed it. Like it was foreplay or something!

"Because Frank told her to!" He wished Duo was there just because he knew the guy would be humming the twilight zone theme. They'd spent a whole week holed up at Trowa's apartment when Heero's leave fell through, leaving Duo with a week's vacation and no Yuy to play with, watching Twilight zone and various other old school horror shows. Trowa hadn't been able to get Duo to stop leaving creepy humming messages on his phone for months.

"She got plans?" Heero sounded so affronted Trowa wanted to laugh. Yes, the girl got plans to build stuff and they'd just gotten a riddle. A stupid riddle at that, but he supposed Frank had considered it enough instructions for them to get by or something. Maybe he'd thought Tracey needed something more explicit? It was like a compliment when you looked at it that way! Compliments were good!

"Legs, an orb and a disk drive to store!" Yeah, it sounded a lot more interesting than their crazy memo had. Not that Heero seemed to agree; the look on his face clearly said 'are you fucking serious' even if the words weren't making it out of his tightly pursed lips.

"Legs," was what managed to finally escape him.

"Yeah...for Hatty."

"You mean the thing in the Origen capsule?" Calling her a thing wasn't the nicest thing Heero could have done, but Trowa supposed there were worse things and he'd used a few of them himself at various times. Still, he was offended on her behalf. If Hatty could be called a she...

"Yeah, the thing in the Origen capsule."

"Weren't you supposed to be getting us help?" And really, Yuy, what were you doing other than playing with computers to debateable success? Because really, they had no way of knowing how much Frank knew about what they were doing. For all they knew, Frank wanted Heero to hack in. But he wasn't supposed to be thinking about that. Right.

"Do I look like I know how to attach cyborg legs to you? That's her job," he pointed a thumb at Tracey, who just blinked at him and put her hands up, disk drive in one hand and the orb in the other.

"Heeey, I just got given plans, no one said anything about operating!"

"She's not alive," Trowa pointed out, pushing Tracey in the direction of the capsule. "And like you said...you got plans. I got riddles and bad directions. And robot help. So...fix my robot for me!" Honestly, he wasn't expected to do everything himself. Besides, he was supposed to be getting them personnel. One person added to the team, and he knew of at least one more he could recruit...

"Go get Farrar," Heero grunted, fingers still poking madly at the keys. Whatever he was doing, Trowa didn't think it was going to plan. At all. Which was all the more reason to get out of there before Heero lost his patience and decided shooting stuff would be faster and more cathartic.

"Yes, Sir," Trowa mock saluted and headed for the lift before pausing and pointing at the still open door. "Do they know we're here?"

"Not really. I rented the room," Heero noted. And really, he did what now? And Trowa had just been thinking about getting a new place! But how had Heero managed that?

"With what money?"

"Yours. I hacked your account." Of course he did! Trowa scowled but it really wasn't worth arguing so he just headed on down, leaving Tracey to have to deal with him and really, maybe Heero would shoot her and teach her not to gob off at Gundam pilots. He angrily checked the codes for the Pad in the lift so he could connect the others to it and then left.

The room was at least ten times the size of his old one and Trowa had to admit he liked it, not that he was thinking of moving in or anything, the idea was to get out of Frank not set up house but still. He could fit a tiger or three...Or maybe a monkey! He'd always wanted to own a monkey. Still no space for an elephant, but maybe one would fit in the gardens where the passionflowers grew...

"I've got to get off this freakin station," he muttered to himself. He stuck his head out the door but the corridor was empty. Not surprising considering they'd emptied it of a great deal of its population. The wives and children were likely still holed up inside, terrified. Frank was no doubt reassuring them he was doing everything in his power to resolve the situation and to stay inside.

Because sitting on your hands doing nothing always solved everything.

He made his way back to his own shuttle stop slowly, taking back routes he knew wouldn't be under heavy use at that time of day, trying to confuse Frank, if he was even aware of where Trowa was or what he was doing. Trowa hoped he was preoccupied with the military and getting them to Earth.

It still took far longer than he would have liked, but he couldn't bring himself to care when the alternative was using Pads. He wondered what over-exposure to those things did to you, but doubted there was any research to check.

The temple was in transition from day to night, people leaving for dinner and bed, only the stragglers rushing in for last minute prayers. Trowa took his time, going in and taking a seat near the candles and just watching the soft lights flicker, wondering how Wufei was, if he was home yet, if he was feeling better. If they'd found a way to help him.

If he was thinking of him, even half as much as Trowa found his thoughts straying to Wufei.

The chair rocked and a shadow sat at his side. Trowa didn't need to look to know it was Farrar. He didn't bother saying anything either, just continued to stare and took his five minutes...or half hour. It didn't matter how long it was; Wufei deserved more than however long it was. Wufei deserved every thought he had. So he took a moment, to give Wufei what he could, even if Wufei would never know.

"He is not here, then."

"We got him out," Trowa confirmed. Unfortunately he hadn't gotten himself out. He could have been home now, buying an elephant.

"You're still here." Obviously.

"The job's not done."

"No...it's done. He's not here. But there's a new job, right?"

"Something like that," Trowa chuckled. Sometimes Farrar was too much the monk or father figure. Trowa didn't need advice, he needed power. Or really, for Frank to come to his senses and realise the world didn't need a mechanical overlord. Either one, really.

"I won't be of much help," Farrar pointed out and the uncertainty in his voice was actually a relief. Trowa didn't particularly like being sworn at, or having it pointed out that he was missing key information or really just having it implied that he was an idiot. He wasn't, so it should never be implied. He'd gotten used to these things helping Quatre build and maintain his empire, mostly because when Quatre lost his shit, he _really_lost his shit, but this was different. He felt alone now, more than he had when he first arrived, knowing he'd had Wufei and lost him again even if that wasn't technically what had happened. Still, the loneliness was there, like a fist constantly punching him in the chest and it was nice just to have someone else seem human. Superhumans were cool, in comic books. This was real life.

"You'll help then?"

"You know, I suspect it's part of my job description," Farrar chuckled but he was nodding. "I will help, in whatever way I can. This mess of yours...it was never Harry's dream."

A reason wasn't necessary but as reasons went the defence of your dead brothers dream against what it had become and subsequently happened to be his murderer...well, that had to be up there. Trowa just smiled and nodded. He wasn't sure what Farrar Jules knew, or what he was capable of but if his brother had designed Frank he doubted Farrar was a moron.

"You know how to use Molecularizaton Pads?"

That made Farrar raise a brow and then he just laughed, clapping a hand on Trowa' shoulder and standing up to stretch, apparently thinking the mission, whatever it was, wasn't going to be as hard as he had feared.

"Son, I created those Pads."

Of course. Because nothing said I outdid you than building a giant killing station in retaliation for your brother solving the issue of instantaneous travel. Siblings. Trowa was glad he didn't have any, though really he thought maybe his friends were worse, and he'd happily die for them too.

"Right. Well then, you can go to Tracey' room and reprogram her Pad to connect to our internal system. I can give you a list of the ones we have running. I'll go to My Room and add the new ones there, and then check up on Giles and fix that Pad." With any luck Nataku would be there and he could pass on the information for her to install in the SiS.

"I can do that. It won't take long, where should I go after that?"

Trowa was busy writing down all the instructions; Tracey's room address, the Lift code, the locations for the other Pads; everything. If Farrar betrayed them it wasn't information Frank didn't likely already know anyway, and it was easier than hoping Farrar remembered. Besides, people could still be tortured and while Trowa had faith in a monk's ability to meditate, he'd never tested how long one could mediate while having their fingernails torn off. So he threw caution to the wind.

"Go to the lift and help Tracey do...whatever she's trying to do." Attach legs? How long would that take? And then there was the disk drive and the orb, who even knew what those were for! And maybe he could help Heero hack into Frank, or something. He would be more useful there than here, that was all Trowa knew.

"Tracey...the girl who makes coffee?" Seriously? What was with these people and coffee?

"Yes. The girl who makes coffee."

"Huh..." But Farrar was already taking the information and sedately heading for the shuttle port, smiling to the stragglers as he went, waving as people called out to him. Looking like it was just another day in the temple. It was grating enough that Trowa took several more minutes just to glare at the candles and remind himelf he couldn't wish ill on the man when he was helping them.

He left feeling no better than when he'd come. But he'd never been big on religion, so.

His Room felt strange. Empty. He was used to coming in and finding Heero sprawled out across the floor with his computers, Duo in the kitchenette with something on the stove and the wall Computer's control in his hand, Wufei crashed out on the bed. So little time to grow so accustomed to a life...Trowa realised how badly he wanted it, not that he hadn't known but having a taste made it worse somehow. He staggered to the bed and sat down hard, reaching out for Wufei's pillow and lying down, hugging it hard against himself and breathing deeply.

Disinfectant and shampoo, but that was all he had left of him for the moment. He spent longer than he should have, and dozed off to daydreams of Wufei still there with him. He woke to the message board coming to life, a cursor flashing in the corner, but otherwise no message.

Frowning, Trowa hurriedly checked the time, but it had only been an hour, and then he double checked the screen hadn't scrolled or anything equally as stupid but there really was no message. It had just turned itself on to flash at him. Somehow, he didn't think it was a malfunction. Was he supposed to think it was and put in a maintenance request? Surely Frank didn't think he was that stupid?

While he glared at the screen and tried to figure it out he went about installing the new co-ordinates and codes into the Pad, calibrating it for the new locations and checking that all were receiving data. It didn't take long; he was more than familiar with the technology now and it was something he wasn't all that proud of. He didn't want to be familiar with Frank. He wanted to forget Frank existed at all.

He was no closer to solving the issue of his faulty message board, so he set it back to the default screen and checked he didn't need anything from His Room before heading for Harry's lab.

Giles was sprawled out on the floor, staring at the ceiling. For a moment as his stomach roiled and threatened to empty its non-existent contents, Trowa thought he was dead. Then his head fell sideways and the man stared at him and sighed. So he was breathing at least, but Trowa still found himself searching for an enemy. There wasn't one.

"I'm fine," Giles reassured him, struggling to sit up and just waving a hand at the laptop. "Just...having no luck at all. Frank's got everything locked under his control so tight I doubt his twin could get in."

Not that either of them were surprised, but still. It was annoying. It was also nice to have someone be as frustrated as him, and not afraid to show it.

"I've got Tracey and Farrar."

"Farrar...Harry's brother, Farrar?" Giles seemed genuinely surprised. "I thought he gave up science for the temple after that fiasco helping some crazy ass scientist build a robot?"

That got Trowa's attention and he had to laugh because Farrar had said he recognised him, and he had known he flew a Gundam and well, it wasn't that much of a stretch to imagine the man realising he'd made a terrible mistake, giving up his awful science and fleeing to his brother's space station to live out his days in repentance. It didn't stop him from wondering which Gundam he'd worked on.

"Oh...04," Giles waved a hand, apparently finding Trowa's next question obvious. "A lot of the people here are from L4. Too much money in one place and no one with money likes being told what to do."

That, Trowa knew. Quatre definitely did not like being told what to do. Telling other people what to do, well Trowa was sure he got at least a little kick out of that.

"Yes. That Farrar," was all there really was to say. He wondered who else was hiding out inside Frank, thinking they had sins to atone for that were plain ridiculous, but it was irrelevant. He just had to finish the job, and get home to Wufei.

"Tracey built Hatty some legs."

"Because she needs those stuck in the Origen capsule." Giles had that sarcasm thing down pat. So straight faced and everything! Trowa was almost jealous but he just shrugged because he had no idea if they could get Hatty out, but apparently she was going to need legs. Hatty walking wasn't something he really wanted to think about but he was sure it would make her happy.

Hatty. Happy. He really had to remind himself they were machines.

To take his mind off things that didn't matter, he went about inputting the data for the new Pads and getting them linked for easier movement through Frank. It didn't take long, since he'd just done exactly the same thing in His Room, but the monotony of the task helped soothe frayed edges in his mind and he found himself relaxing into the task.

He was almost done when the Pad activated and he rolled sideways before he would be caught in the transfer, scowling at Nataku as she stepped off and looked down at him showing no sign of the effects of the Re-Molecularization and worse, looking like she thought he might be insane for being sprawled out at her feet.

"Are you alright, Triton?"

"Fine," he glared. "Just peachy." He got up and brushed off his knees, finishing enabling the new co-ordinates in the Pad and then bowing low to Nataku, feeling incredibly annoyed at the world and well aware he was just pissy because Wufei wasn't around. He was starting to recall going off the rails a little the last time Wufei 'disappeared'. He idly wondered how much worse it might have been if he had known exactly where Wufei had gone.

"Frank has disabled many of my access codes," Nataku noted and she almost sounded pissed off.

"You mean, you're only...human?" Giles laughed at his own joke and even Trowa had to smile because okay, that was funny. But it was an annoyance too. If she couldn't access Level 1 completely, they could gain no control over the military.

"I am not human. I am..."

"Yeah, yeah, we know!" Trowa quieted her with a wave of his hand, trying to think of something to do with the military but for the moment it seemed to be out of their hands. He sat down hard in the chair at the computer and ran a quick scan of the systems Frank was accessing but he was moving so quickly it was hard to notice anything that might have been suspicious and he gave it up pretty quickly.

"There's nothing we can do. Is there?"

Giles was right, there was nothing and Trowa just shook his head.

"We should head to Level 6 to regroup. There's no point sitting here doing nothing waiting for the rendezvous." Trowa was already moving for the Pad, checking once again that everything was running and the Pads were all connected to the network and communicating as required. The last thing he wanted was one to drop out and disrupt the process, leaving him in nowhere land.

"We need a new plan," Nataku pointed out stoically and Trowa was grateful Giles was glaring so he didn't have to because hello, that was obvious! He just hoped Heero had some better ideas than the nonsense his own sleep-deprived brain was coming up with. Maybe sleep should be the plan, it had been a while and they were only going to get worse and make more mistakes. He didn't want to be the one to bring it up though. Besides, did robot-girl even need to sleep?

"Okay, let's go," Giles ushered them all onto the Pad, though he seemed just as dubious as Nataku and Trowa about actually going anywhere, but then it was too late and they were already in the lift, which was remarkably smaller than he recalled with three people bent over in it gagging.

"There has to be an easier way to go about things," Giles complained. Trowa just grunted in reply and hit the up button on the lift, seeing no point in delaying the second bout of nausea as the lift moved up to the next Level.

The doors opened and Trowa barely got a foot out the door before something flew at his face and he found himself shoved back into the lift. He would have crashed had Giles and Nataku not caught him and kept him up. Trowa grappled with the thing that had collided with his face and shoved it away only to stare in stunned...something. Was this what people meant when they said they were in a stupor? He sure felt stupid. Did that even count?

"Hatty?" Giles reached out and touched her cheek as if she might be an illusion. As if her collision course with Trowa hadn't been proof enough she was a tangible...thing.

"Triton's back, Triton's back, Triton's back!" Was she trying to kiss him? Trowa shoved her backward and watched as she stumbled on legs...legs! Hatty, with legs. They had seemed short and small when he had held them but on her they were in proportion; she was a small thing, almost like a child as she skipped around in a circle to get her balance back and then turned to look at him again.

"Is she...grinning?" Giles stepped behind Trowa as if Hatty might bite them, or rub off, or generally try to interact with him at all.

"Probably," Trowa muttered, though he had to admit it was hard to tell. He definitely needed to get Tracey to make the robot a skull cap, because at the moment it looked like her skin might slide off and her eye might fall out of her damn head the way she was spinning around in excitement.

"Look, Triton! I got legs! Harrison never had time to make me legs, but Tracey made some for me! Aren't they pretty? Do I look nice with legs?"

"Is she _modelling_ for you?" Giles sounded like he wasn't sure if he was supposed to laugh or cry. Trowa understood the feeling. He had thought her gone and had felt guilt over it, yes, but also a sense of relief. He felt strangely responsible for Hatty, almost as though she were a young teenager he had somehow led astray and now needed to do something about. He wished, every now and then, that he had never turned her on, but like most things in Frank she had served a purpose in helping him get Wufei back and that was something he couldn't regret.

"Congratulations, Hatty. You look great." It was the best he could manage, and if it gave her ideas then maybe they were ideas she was supposed to have. Who was he to dictate what robots should or should not believe they feel?

Apparently very pleased with his response Hatty skipped back to where Tracey was sitting on the edge of the Origen capsule, legs inside the gel, hands working on something inside. Startled by Hatty's flying leap at his face, Trowa hadn't realised what that meant; that no one was in the capsule. He hurried over and peered in, startled to see the orb, lit up and stabbed in a myriad places by the various connections, Tracey carefully connecting her own work tablet as well, observing the orb's actions as it connected to Frank.

"Is it working?"

"It is not a replacement for the Origen," she warned immediately. "It's just a virus made to simulate the presence of the Origen and slow Frank down. Based on the feedback I'm getting I estimate Frank will be able to override its effects in about a day and a half...two days at most."

It was still something. Hatty was petting Tracey's head, as if congratulating a dog on a job well done. Giles looked particularly disturbed and moved away to sit near Heero and Trowa had to admit it was a good move. If you were concerned about what the creepy robot girl might do to you, Yuy was your best bet at survival. That went for most scenarios, if he was honest, but when it came to praising the abilities of Heero Yuy, Trowa didn't like being honest often. It might go to the man's head or something.

Hatty came back over to him and wrapped both her cold arms around one of his own, hugging him hard. Trowa just sighed and let her stay there, rolling his eyes at the baseball cap she had on, still backwards, but still covered in drying green gel. It looked hideous, but somehow on her it all worked.

"We've stopped moving," Heero noted softly.

"We've arrived?"

"We're near Earth," Heero confirmed. "Far enough away that a battle won't harm it in crossfire, but close enough to be a real threat. Frank's already receiving warnings from Preventers and the UN." Which would be steadfastly ignored, they were all sure.

"Hatty, do you remember anything that Frank was planning?" Nataku asked, putting out a hand for Hatty to take, only Trowa watched as a long spike slid out of her palm; a data port and he wondered if he was ever going to get used to the weird crap they could do. He hoped not, because that would mean a lot of his time would be spent with them and the less time he spent in Frank the more time, theoretically, he would get with Wufei.

Hatty took Nataku's hand and her eyes closed, a rich green light emanating from under the skin as they communicated or transferred data, or whatever robot girls did when they held hands.

"So, orb and legs...check. What was the disk drive for?"

Tracey looked over at them but just shrugged and pointed to the drive sitting on her bag in the corner, wiggling her gel-caked fingers at them. Trowa went and fetched the drive and handed it to Heero so he could plug it in and see what was on it, but he was distracted by Hatty and Nataku releasing one another and Hatty rushing back to his side, once again attaching herself to his arm. He supposed he could tell her to get off, but the chances of her listening were slim.

"Frank has control of all satellites surrounding Earth," Nataku said softly. "He's mobilized the military and is preparing to infiltrate the UN."

"What?" Heero looked stumped and Trowa had to agree that it was a big ask. Just who the hell did he think he was sending to do that? But there had to be people in Frank who'd had power once. People who had wanted peace long before Relena had started sprouting the same sort of nonsense and succeeded. Now there were a lot more people likely to listen to someone from before the war who'd tried to tell them all the same thing. If they'd been right then, maybe they were right now? People were so gullible it almost hurt to watch them.

"The drive seems unprotected," Heero looked up expectantly. "I can access it, but there might be something I haven't noticed. I could destroy it."

"Just try it. It's not like we'd be losing anything, if we can't access it anyway."

Heero seemed to agree because his fingers were moving quickly on the keys and then he was reading and Trowa had to keep himself from stepping up to look over his shoulder so he didn't have to stand there and wait for a report like he worked for Heero.

"It's...bank information. Stocks, bonds, accounts..." He was frowning, not really knowing what it was so Trowa took a look, picking up the laptop and staring at the screen but it didn't make a whole lot of sense to him either. It was Nataku who looked at it with something like understanding.

"Harrison's accounts. He was very adamant that I collect as much of the station's assets under his different company names as possible and keep it separate from the System."

"Frank's assets?" Giles lunged forward to get a look himself, but there was so much information there that it really would take hours to pull apart, which was time they didn't need to waste while Nataku was right there ready to enlighten them.

"How much of the Station assets is in Harrison's name?"

"Just under sixty five percent," Nataku sounded certain. Heero was laughing, sitting back on his hands and outright laughing and Trowa had to agree it was pretty funny. Even funnier when Farrar stepped out of the lift to find them all there laughing at him.

"What did I miss?"

"Oh, you just became the richest man in the universe. Don't sweat it."

"Huh?" Farrar frowned at them all and came forward to see what they were looking at, and then just shrugged.

"I don't see how that helps us."

"Because if Frank buys Preventers from Winner Corp, and you have the greatest share in Frank, you own Preventers," Heero pointed out, clearly of the opinion that should be obvious.

"Not if Frank doesn't want to accept that I'm his boss," Farrar pointed out with just as much attitude. It was rather nice, in Trowa's opinion, to see Heero getting sassed at. Sure, Duo did it occasionally, but Heero seemed to enjoy that so it didn't count at all!

"Can you build a Pad capable of getting us planetside?" Trowa asked suddenly.

"Well...yeah, but..."

"And once on Earth, could you build one to get us back?"

"Maybe, but it's a huge distance! And that could take..."

"How long?"

"I don't know! A day...maybe?" He certainly didn't look certain about it but it was something.

"Do it."

"But..."

"Now!" Heero and Trowa snapped in unison, then glared at each other before sighing.

"You still think just blowing the crap out of Frank isn't the best course of action?" He might have said yes just because Heero sounded so damn smug.

"We'll see."


	22. Chapter 22

22:  
>If he closed his eyes and breathed out very slowly, let the whole world drop away from him, just focussed on the breath and the feel of it on his skin...there. That was what it had felt like. That was just the amount of pressure Wufei's fingers had when they slid around the back of his neck and gently tugged him closer and that...that right there was precisely what soft lips had felt like against his own, with that gentle little puff of air, like relief to finally be there, kissing Wufei.<p>

"Triton, are you alright?" And just like that, it was gone again. Trowa opened his eyes and had to just stare to keep from crying out, or worse reaching out to grab and pull closer and kiss because while the face was the same, that was _not_ Wufei. It had breasts, for starters.

"I'm fine, Taku."

"Is Triton sick?" Hatty piped in immediately, hurrying over and sitting beside him, leaning in far too close and it was strange that they had the same face, but close up they looked nothing like Wufei. They didn't look real. And the person who should have been behind those dark eyes wasn't there.

"No, Hatty. I'm fine. I was just resting."

"Like sleeping? I'll sleep with you, Triton! You can sleep on me!"

Her enthusiasm hurt all the more in the wake of Heero's snickering. He straightened her cap and then frowned because now she had legs it was all the more obvious she wasn't wearing anything. Nataku had clothes, so really...it was a logical step. Besides, it was weird looking at the giant hole in her gut where she didn't need a stomach, not to mention the fact he could see all her organs. Gross!

"Come on..." He grabbed her wrist and took her down to the unit in the lift, rummaging through the closets until he found a simple white sleeveless dress that looked about the right size. A little big perhaps, but Hatty wouldn't know the difference.

"Put this on."

"But...why?" She was looking at it like it might burn her and Trowa sighed pointing to his own clothes.

"They don't hurt, see? Everyone else has them. You'll look good."

"I'll look pretty?" Honestly, did it have to be this hard to get the robot girl to put clothes on? No wonder Harrison had switched her off! But that was unfair and something he didn't really want to think about so he sighed and nodded and listened patiently to her squeal in delight as she hurriedly attempted to dress. And failed. So he helped her pull it on and get her arms through and basically put it on for her and then looked her up and down and nodded in appreciation.

"There. Much better."

"I...I wasn't pretty before?" Was she actually going to cry? Surely not. Robots couldn't cry, right?

"Of course you were. But you can't go walking around without clothes on. People would think you  
>were weird. You don't want to be weird, you want to be pretty...right?"<p>

She paused, apparently considering this but then her expression only grew more distressed.

"I looked weird? But you said I looked pretty because I had my hat on!" Oh God, she really was going to cry. No, this totally wasn't possible, right?

"No, Hatty, it was fine, you were just with me! But we're not in Harry's workshop anymore, we're out where other people are and they don't like when people don't act just like them. So you need to wear clothes to fit in! But you look pretty either way, I promise!" Thank God Heero was upstairs or he was never going to live this down.

"Oh. Okay." And just like that she was smiling again. Would it really be that bad for his health to beat his head against a wall until he fell unconscious? Maybe he would wake up in his apartment and realise it really had all just been a bad dream. But that would mean no Wufei, so he didn't go and test the theory.

"What do you dream about?"

It was one of those things. A Hatty thing? The kind that left his brain figuratively leaking out his ears while some small conscious part of him tried to catch up to the conversation and make some kind of sense from it.

"I don't remember." Lots of people didn't, after all, who was to say he always did? So there was the occasional nightmare that liked to repeat itself. Those hadn't shown their faces for a while anyway, replaced with dreams of longing and want that he preferred to forget on waking. If only he could forget now, but he doubted he wanted to.

"Oh." She seemed to be thinking quite hard, judging by the crinkle above her brow. Or was that just skin peeling off? They really had to get that fixed.

"Hatty...do you dream?" Say no, say no, say no...NO!

"I don't know. What if I do and I just don't remember?" Such genuine concern did not belong on a robotic face. Trowa sighed and rubbed his temple before grabbing her wrist and dragging her back into the lift because it was about time for Farrar to be done with his new machinations.

"Hatty...did you know Farrar, before?"

"No?" She seemed to have no idea why he would think it, and she appeared adamant enough about it that Trowa wondered if he wasn't just getting ridiculously paranoid, or losing his mind altogether. He thought he was well within his rights to do either, or both really.

"Should I?"

"No, no..." He waved a hand and sighed again. "I was just curious." That kills cats, Trowa, even big scary lion-like cats. Curiosity was bad...He needed sleep, seriously.

"He thinks he's done," Heero grumbled from where he was still madly typing on the computer. Trowa wondered if he wasn't secretly writing down secret pornographic dream-tales about Duo, because there really couldn't be that much to type about. Or that much to hack. Whatever.

Still, it was interesting that he thought he was finished now, when he'd seemed pretty sure he wasn't going to get it done in less than a day. And the guy had to be rusty, he'd been a monk for a while now after all. So Trowa wandered over with Hatty and they stood together, peering down at the Pad, which while slightly larger than the others didn't appear to be all that different. Unless of course you turned around when Nataku pointed behind you and noticed the giant ray-gun looking barrel pointing right at your head.

"Well."

"Well," Giles agreed, rolling his eyes.

"It doesn't need to be bigger?" Size was supposed to matter right, and if it didn't why was it as big as it was? Really, was this the exact size required? That seemed...odd. It just looked disproportionate to the distance it was going to have to cover and Trowa did not, under any circumstances, want to rematerialise short of their destination. You couldn't keep elephants on the moon, and for this Preventers were definitely giving him an elephant!

"It's not the actual laser," Nataku corrected him.

"It's not?" It sure as hell looked like it to him!

"It's just a booster to draw power from the one already on the Station. It works on isolated frequencies so Frank can't stop us using it. It's quite clever." She sounded a little too impressed and Trowa eyed her dubiously before he realised she was happy, which meant one thing.

"He fixed your access issues."

"He fixed my access issues," she agreed smugly and he just snorted at her and went to sit on the table Heero was working on, because surely that would get the guy's attention. Or even just annoy him. Just a little bit.

"Access issues," Heero snickered and Trowa nearly fell back off the table because was that a joke? Heero was smirking and that had definitely been a snicker, so that was a joke, right? From Yuy. Falling off would have been entirely valid. But he hadn't! Not entirely.

"That's terrible," Trowa muttered, hoping Hatty didn't hear because he was not explaining the joke to her. Ever.

"But you're grinning," Heero pointed out, his own face carefully blank. Bastard.

"He's grinning, and I'm ready to see if I'm as good as I used to be," Farrar muttered, fiddling with a control board that looked dubiously put together to Trowa, but he wasn't an expert so he didn't say anything.

"I need exact co-ordinates of a clear space?"

Heero was already pulling up Preventers headquarters and getting the numbers but Trowa was frowning, thinking about it because last time he'd been there, people had been all over the place, and while there were plenty of nice open areas, the officers there made no secret of the fact they moved things to suit their current requirements. A room that might have been clear a week ago could be a storage closet right now.

"I don't feel like ending up with a chair leg..."

"That wouldn't look right at all!" Hatty agreed, wide eyed and coming over to measure the length of his leg before scurrying off to measure the nearest chair. Trowa ignored her as much as possible because really, someone needed to teach the robots sarcasm. Or at least program them a sense of humour, if that was even possible.

"Here," Heero handed over a piece of paper with the numbers and Farrar didn't even ask where it was, just started punching the numbers in. Trowa almost asked but refused to be the only one with curiosity issues and bit his tongue.

"Who's going?" Farrar looked up at them all and this was the tricky part, because they had no real way of knowing if the person was going to materialize on the other end, or just...end up somewhere else. If they sent Farrar and it didn't work, they didn't have another shot.

"Me." Nataku stepped on without hesitation and Trowa wondered idly why he hadn't thought of that.

"I can send a signal back to let you know if it works." And if she ended up with chair legs, it wouldn't kill her. At least, theoretically, though Trowa thought it would still be uncomfortable.

"Will your signal reach that far?" Trust Heero to think of the logistics.

"I installed a booster," Farrar muttered, already distracted getting her on her way.

"Trowa, if..." But Nataku didn't get to finish, shimmering out of existence and Trowa watched in fascination as the external cameras came to life on the screens and showed the sigil on the outside of Frank lighting up, the eye opening and a burst of light erupting, disappearing into the dark of space, shooting at earth like a star.

If indeed. Because robots had final words. The silence seemed long and more arduous than Trowa had expected. Almost as if he were worried. As if they all were, but then he supposed they all needed this to work. It was their ticket home, if all else failed, and the key to success if all else didn't.

The controller in Farrar's hand came to life and he smiled, leaning back in his chair and Trowa finally exhaled. He hadn't even known he was holding his breath.

"She said the room was not completely empty but she has the situation under control and there should be no problems with anyone else coming through."

"Someone was in the room?" Trowa glanced at Heero, wondering just where he had sent her but he shrugged, clearly not knowing who it was.

"I'll go and tell Preventers what we're doing, get them up to speed, though there's not a lot to add since what we sent them last on the shuttles."

Which left Trowa on Frank. Not that he hadn't known that was the way it was going to happen; Heero actually worked for Preventers, after all. They were much more likely to listen to the hero of the world than the weird call in, who it was rumoured liked to throw knives at people during training sessions for shits and giggles.

"I'll stay with Triton!" Of course, because they'd been considering letting Hatty go to Earth. Not. But no one bothered to point it out to her. She probably felt more special this way anyway. Like she was making her own decisions. Because free will was definitely important to machines.

"I'm staying," Giles noted softly and Tracey was nodding, clearly not going anywhere either. At least he wasn't going to be alone in Frank's head, though he thought he might have preferred being alone so there were no witnesses to see him completely lose his shit.

"We'll build the replica within ten hours," Farrar promised softly. "I'll use the co-ordinates from the Pad here as our landing point. I've set it not to accept new bodies if the Pad is already in use, so it won't double up. Don't try and bypass that command."

"Fine." Because he had no intention of accidentally getting merged with Heero Yuy, thank you very much. He didn't bother saying anything as Farrar collected what he needed and got on the Pad. Tracey stepped up to take the controls and Trowa hated the way Farrar smiled at him. Calmly, as if all was right in the world, or was going to be. Maybe it was just what rich people did, only Farrar had been that insufferable before he became the universe's richest man. It was that whole monk thing he had going on.

"Patience, Mister Bloom." And with that he was gone and Trowa wanted to throw his shoe at thin air. He would have if he hadn't suspected Hatty would chase it and fetch it for him like a well trained puppy.

"Get as much done as you can," Heero ordered, stepping up onto the pad and nodding to Tracey who didn't hesitate to press the send key and just like that they were alone. Not really, sure, but that hint of hope Trowa had felt when Duo and Heero arrived was gone. He was alone, with the horrors he'd discovered inside Frank, the only one left eaten alive.

The real question was, get as much of what done as possible? There was nothing left to do besides wait because once that Pad was built, Une was going to send an army through it and flood Frank with bacteria he could never imagine. With any luck Nataku would find a way to breach level 1 and that would be that. Mostly. There would be a whole lot of political mess to clean up, sure, but his job would be done.

He went downstairs but the room just wasn't the same and he left Giles and Tracey to man the place while he went back to His Room. The shuttle felt smaller than it had, and yet emptier at the same time. The people at the temple were going about the same prayerful duties as every other day but it seemed more meaningless now. The faces lacked emotion, their hands showed no expression and Trowa knew it wasn't the case; that it was he who had changed. His own face refused to acknowledge their expressions. Could process nothing more than it had already seen and instead he felt cold and a gnawing hunger started to build inside.

He forced himself to leave them alone to their silent vigil and hurried on to His Room.

Quiet. Still. They were just words. They couldn't begin to describe the emptiness he felt stepping inside, the door closing him in, to find the room mostly abandoned, their things gone. The juicer sat in the corner, innocent and incongruous. Just a juicer. A cup of half drank tea still sat in the sink, growing mould. He refused to tip it out.

Only mould was unhealthy and he didn't want his room being filthy. If _He_ came back. It needed to be clean and he found himself striding to the sink and emptying the cup, forcing down the regret as he watched the liquid run down into the hole and disappear. The warm water on his hands as he washed the cup clean didn't feel clean like it had once. It wasn't hot enough, or something. He sighed and dried it, putting it away in the cupboard, but left the juicer where it was.

Lying on the bed, he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. Then breathed out. In again. And out.

There. There is was again. Just like that, was how it had felt. Relief and want and grace, all in one. If he could just let go, it was still there. _He _was still there.

"Wufei."

The light behind his eyes changed and he frowned, wondering if he hadn't finally managed to nod off, only he didn't think about being asleep when he was asleep and if made him frown more, opening his eyes and staring at the interactive board on the wall.

The cursor was blinking, but it was the single word scrawled across it that made his heart race, thundering in his chest so hard he ached and he shot up off the bed and stepped up to it, tracing the word with his fingers as if to make sure it was real.

_Yes?_

It couldn't be, but there it was. Only it couldn't be. Was it some sick joke of Frank's? Could machines play sick jokes? Or did Frank really think he was Wufei? Was that really any better, or sicker?

Did it matter when his whole body felt energised to the point of explosion? He didn't know what to do, where to run, if he should hide or throw himself into it and just for a minute pretend it could be true. As if he wanted it to be true, for Wufei to be on the other end. To be Frank.

"I'm losing my mind."

No response, just his own ragged, heavy breathing. His own desperate need to feel the gentle brush of Wufei's hair against his shoulder. His breath on his skin. His touch on his lips. Knowing.

_Then find it._

Laughter broke from him and he sat down hard on the floor, staring up at the message board, grateful his hair was covering his face so the machine couldn't see his tears. As if Frank cared enough to look. As if Frank wanted to see him break and fall and crumble the way he felt himself breaking apart inside. As if a computer could deliberately hurt so deeply.

"Why?" Because really, why any of it? Why build Frank, when they'd fought so hard for the peace these people had apparently wanted so badly? Why make it so monstrous that only a human mind could tame it? Why give it a conscience at all, make it aware of the things men struggled with on a daily basis? Why plan and machinate to the extremes that it did, to the point that the entire universe was at risk of falling under Frank's majesty?

Why Wufei? Of all the billions of people alive in the universe, why take the only one Trowa wanted for himself?

_Because you're going to need it._

Of course. He choked back the words he wanted to bellow at the screen, forced himself not to say them because he didn't want Frank to have them. Didn't want a machine to think it had beaten him, even if there was just the slightest chance it might have. He couldn't let Heero have the satisfaction of knowing Trowa had fucked it all up and told Frank their plan. So he kept it all hidden inside, got himself up off the floor and went to shower.

Because hot water is scalding, blessed relief, and yet nowhere near as burning as the gentle scrape of another's fingertips against your thigh. He closed his eyes and leant back against the wall, remembering and resting and taking a few minutes just to be.

And he woke to the water beating on his head, cheek pressed to the cool floor, legs curled up around himself in the small cubicle. Blinking, he sat up and fumbled over his head for the switch, pushing the tap off and scowling at the floor as if it were to blame for his subconscious apparently thinking it was a good place to take a nap.

If a nap it had been. Panic took over but took form only in the hurried precision of well practised moves as he rolled out of the shower into standing, grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his hips as he lunged for his watch, shaking his head at the hour lost but grateful he hadn't woken to Heero's boot nudging him and a glare demanding to know why he was sleeping on the job. Because perfect people didn't sleep, unless one eye was open or something.

The cursor was blinking on the message board, but their conversation was gone and Trowa found himself standing there and staring at the blankness. It felt like a copy of something inside him, a stark reminder of what his life had been those last few months as hope slipped and turned into something else.

"Please tell me you haven't been staring at that wall this whole time?"

Startled and trying damn hard not to show it, Trowa just blinked at Tracey as she stepped out of the closet, off the Molecularization Pad and even she seemed a little confused by it, turning to stare and then just arching one slender brow at him. He just shrugged.

"Apparently closets are the best place to put them." She had, after all.

"Right." If you could roll your eyes using your voice, she just had.

"So, did your staring give you any epiphanies we should be aware of?"

"Nope." Like he'd just been staring there in a towel all this time. He grabbed some clothes from the closet and went into the bathroom to change because being naked in front of Tracey right then wasn't something he felt like being. He wished he'd slept longer, feeling worse than he had before, but the thought of Tracey finding him naked and asleep in the shower wasn't much more appealing than Heero and that thought had been bad enough to give him nightmares for months.

"Well. That's nice. Can we go, then?" She called through the door and Trowa barely restrained himself from putting his fist through the door in an attempt to hit her face. Mostly because he wasn't sure what happened when you tried to punch a door that could disappear in a heartbeat just because you walked toward it. He didn't think it would be all that satisfying, either way.

He finished dressing and went back out, waiting expectantly because she hadn't even told him what she was doing there. Yet.

"Thought you might want this," she shoved a large mug of steaming coffee into his hand and snorted at the way he immediately snatched it up and took a swig.

"So?" Did he have to beg? Because he didn't do that sort of thing.

"Hatty started freaking out you hadn't come back."

And this was his problem because? He scowled and she shrugged, pointing to the Pad because apparently it was his problem and he had to go deal with it. He sighed and got on the Pad like a good puppy and took a sip of coffee before he could even think about whether it was a good idea.

It wasn't. He spat it hard at the elevator wall and coughed hard, going to wipe it off and deciding to just leave it. Tracey could clean it if it bothered her that much. Besides, the lurch of the lift going up after Re-molecularization was doing strange things to his mostly empty stomach and it was taking all of his attention just to stare at the coffee on the wall as it slid in the opposite direction to what they were heading.

Why the lift doors still made a little _ping_ upon arrival? He had _no_ idea.

"TRITON!" She was wrapped around him before he even saw her, legs around his waist and arms so tight he knew he was going to have bruises tomorrow. And she was talking complete gibberish. Not like words he couldn't understand, but actual computer garble.

"31 - 45 -2 - 76 - 5 - 31 - 9 - 26 - 66."

"Hatty?" It didn't register at all, she just kept talking and Trowa stumbled to the nearest chair and sat down, not amused at all when she just clung tighter, making them both, he was sure, extremely uncomfortable. If robots could feel uncomfortable.

"Hatty!"

"We've tried. She won't shut up. Just keeps repeating the same garbage over and over." Giles came out from under the desk where he appeared to have set up a more permanent base for all the things they had introduced to Frank's systems and the new Molecularization Pad system. It even looked vaguely tidy. He must have been bored.

"That's nice. Was she smothering you while you tried to get her attention too?"

"Me? No. She saved that for you." And he seemed so damn amused by it too. Bastard.

"Hatty! Damn it! STOP!" He hauled her arms off him and forced them into her lap, but her legs were a lost cause. He could only imagine the octopus-like picture they made but he'd never really been _that_ concerned with appearances. Until now, maybe.

"We tried everything. She just keeps spouting numbers. But...at least they're quieter now? When she started she was really bellowing them out."

That didn't help him figure out what the hell to do about it. Still, he managed to get her untangled from him and to sit in the chair, pointing sternly to get her to stay while he just stared at her and tried to decide what to do with her. Putting her down wasn't an option. Not really, anyway, even if he did entertain it several times as he tried to come up with a solution.

"What were you doing before she started?"

"Nothing. Just cleaning up the control boards here, checking on the orb..."

"The orb?" He looked over at the capsule, something about it nagging at him, and then back at Hatty, counting silently in his head as he did.

"You said it might last what? Two days?"

"Yes. It hasn't been that long yet." Duh.

"What if it's not lasting that long?"

They both just stared at him and shrugged and he had to agree. Who the hell knew what then. Frank would be free to do whatever he wanted. Again. They couldn't just keep sticking things in the Origen capsule and hope that eventually something would work. Or they could, but it was getting old. He wanted something that actually gave them a leg up. Anything, at this point.

"Is she still connected to Frank?"

"No, she doesn't have wireless the way Nataku does. At least...I don't think she does?" The pause and the way Giles was looking at Hatty made Trowa furious. They weren't thinking ahead; weren't considering all the possibilities every time and that could get them all killed. They couldn't afford to die! Who the hell had time for that? And they definitely didn't understand what Heero Yuy might do to their corpses, let alone Duo Maxwell. These people really just had no idea.

But maybe he was expecting too much of them. They were just people, after all.

And now he was thinking like Yuy. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair and went to take a closer look at Hatty, wrinkling his nose as he knelt down in front of her and tried to catch her gaze. It worked, thankfully, though her lips didn't still, whispering the numbers in a seemingly random pattern.

"Does it repeat?"

"I'm not sure. I tried writing it down for a while but if it does repeat, it's a long sequence? I can record it if you like and put it through a decoder?"

You should have done that to begin with. Only Trowa didn't say it just nodded and kept his gaze locked with Hatty's.

"Sweetheart. I need to look around inside your head for a minute, okay? Please don't flinch or scream." If she even knew what the hell he was saying at all, but he didn't need her carrying on while his hands were rummaging around her brain. The thought that it was in some small way also Wufei's brain was not helping him at all.

"You're not really going to...oh god, you are..." He didn't even bother to look at Tracey, trying to remember the section of Harrison's notes on Hatty's brain, or really he supposed it was Nataku's brain and he just had to assume they were alike in most ways. His fingers grazed things he didn't want to think about and grew moist with a sticky substance he didn't linger on, looking for the connections where brain matter became hard matter and systems, following each to the computers controlling and generating power.

"That is wrong in so many ways..." Giles muttered, shaking his head and Trowa scowled at him but kept looking, finding an access point near what he thought he wanted and plugging her in to the nearest laptop port.

He went to type, but stared at the substance on his fingers and his scowl at Giles became a demanding glare. Giles obediently went about accessing Hatty but all that scrolled across the screen were the numbers she kept repeating over and over and Trowa sighed glumly. It was worth a try, but when he stared at his sticky hand he wasn't so sure. He was still standing there staring at it when Hatty's hand slammed into the side of his face full force, the ring of the slap hard in his ears and the room.

Everyone paused, silent, staring at Hatty as if to see what she would do next, even her lips still for a moment. Then she blinked and her hand went back to her lap and she began muttering numbers again.

"Dude, talk about a delayed reaction!"

"You've spent too much time with Maxwell!" Trowa snarled immediately, moving to rub his cheek and stopping himself just short of smearing Hatty-brain-matter all over it. "I'm going to wash my damn hand. When I get back I expect you to have some damn idea what the hell is wrong with her!"

"Touchy touchy," Tracey muttered but had the sense to duck out of the way of his shoe as it sailed over her head.

"Don't think I'm giving that back!"


	23. Chapter 23

23:

Hands gripping the bathroom sink, Trowa stared at them for a long time before finally reaching for the tap, scrubbing them hard, getting in under the nails and into each scar until they were pink and raw and he was sure there was nothing left. Clean. Or so he tried to tell himself. They were anything but, but that was not the point. He could allude himself a little longer.

Collecting himself seemed both easier and harder than before, but then he supposed most things were easier when you didn't have a shower spraying in your face and you were already standing instead of foetal on the floor with someone mockingly standing over you.

He finished washing his hands, then washed his face as well, splashing cold water against feverish skin and taking deep breaths before towelling dry and heading back upstairs. He glared at at Tracey when she just shrugged at him and didn't give back his shoe. He hadn't really thought she was serious about not giving it to him, and he wasn't attached to them enough to argue about it, but he still felt a little foolish standing at the table with one foot bare.

"It repeats," Giles noted softly, pointing to the screen and Trowa just sighed at the length of numbers before sitting down heavily in the seat and going about staring at them studiously and hoping an answer might present itself. It was too long to be anything sensible, which meant it was definitely a code, but he had no idea how he was supposed to crack it.

The problem was it made no sense at all, and yet was naggingly familiar.

"You have no idea, right?"

"None at all," Trowa agreed, waving off the offer of a coffee from Giles, unsurprised when the man simply drank it himself.

Hatty was still in her chair, hands clasped calmly in her lap and Trowa glared at them, pointing a stern finger at her.

"I won't forget you slapped me. That wasn't a nice thing to do." Like he had to teach her to be polite. What was he afraid of? Raising a monster? She wasn't his responsibility. But he'd turned her on, and he knew better. No one else would care; they would look for the off switch or not even bother, just shoot her in the head or similar. He was the only one who'd bothered to switch her on, and certainly the only one who seemed to actually care what she thought.

If he was to actually admit he knew he cared. Which he wasn't.

"It's too long to be co-ordinates," Giles noted an Trowa scowled but kept his gaze on the screen. That would have been too easy, and so far nothing about Frank had been easy. He tapped his fingers on the pile of manuals and notes Heero had left and barely kept from wishing Yuy was there to help. Like he needed his help.

Only he did. This was not the sort of thing Trowa was good at. Codes were _boring_! They required just sitting around doing _absolutely nothing_ until you figured out that one tiny thing that gave up the answer.

He found himself staring at the orb again, wondering if it was failing and they had far less time than they had believed. Had Tracey known it wouldn't last that long? Was she deliberately deceiving them? What if the orb actually did nothing at all?

Paranoia. He had to stop that. Easier said than done, though. It wasn't like he could do anything about it at this point, but if she'd hurt Hatty...

What, Barton? You'll hurt her? Now he was thinking like Yuy, but maybe that was what he needed if he was going to crack the code. Or maybe the code was for him, and he had to think like himself. Frank had said he was going to need his mind, or Frank pretending to be Wufei had said so. Either way, what if it was designed specifically with him in mind?

Probably best not to try to think like Yuy. He didn't want to start dreaming about Maxwell, anyway.

He had to find his mind. Was that the clue? If it was he sure as hell wasn't going to find it staring at the computer screen.

"I can give it a try, if you want?"

His first reaction was a resounding no, if she wasn't to be trusted he didn't want her anywhere near it, but his suspicions were unreasonable and he knew it so he nodded and vacated the seat, stretching and glancing again at the manuals, blinking and then figuring what the hell. He had nothing better to do, it was worth a try.

"I'm going to Level 1."

"WHAT?" He loved when they did it in unison like that. But Giles was frowning with that weird line he got between his brows whenever he thought too hard about something and then the old man just shrugged.

"If you can get in a SiS it's worth a try. Eyes on the outside would be handy. Not sure what difference it'll make if Preventers can see us, but..."

But it was very likely Preventers couldn't see them; that the only reason they knew they were there at all was because they'd sent Heero and Nataku to tell them in person. Besides, it would be an interesting perspective, to see Earth from Frank's personnel's perspective. To hear what they had to say about what was going on. He felt a little trapped in an ivory tower as it was, and the idea of getting back in amongst the reality of it was too great an allure.

"If I'm not back by the time Heero gets back...it's probably best not to come looking for me." And finally he grinned because it felt good to have a simple goal again. And not to be sitting in a damn chair hoping the code would break itself, or his brain. Whichever came first.

He left before they could think to stop him and set the lift Pad to re-Molecularize in Tracey's room, as it was the closest to a shuttle that could take him to Level 1. He paused long enough to grab some shoes, only to find they didn't fit. Tracey didn't have big feet, even if he'd thought they would have to be big enough to stop her huge mouth. Apparently foot size and mouth capacity had nothing to do with one another. Who would have thought!

The shuttle wasn't cramped, quite the opposite. He sat in a carriage in the middle but it was otherwise abandoned. The odd person was scattered throughout the length but compared to a week ago, it was as though Frank had emptied itself of his inhabitants. Or they just had enough sense to stay home. Not that people usually had much sense at all.

The Level 1 shuttle was a little more popular, but not exceptionally. That might have had something to do with the fact almost all personnel were already in Level 1, or so it seemed.

It was a good thing, for him, as no one questioned him as he walked through the gates and headed for his locker, grateful for the shoes inside. He pretended to clock in but didn't dare to actually touch his ID to the pad for fear of what Frank had set his status to. Shoot on sight? Capture and bring him to Level 5? That would be ironic. Torture and imprison for life? Ouch. He didn't fancy having a pet rat at all, it just wasn't his thing.

Trowa had never seen so many men at once in Frank. Every bay was manned, when before entire sections had been empty. More importantly, every SiS was either being prepared to launch, or the red lights were on to indicate the Fighter was already deployed. He shivered inside his shirt and hurried to his bay, waving a short greeting to his Captain who just grunted and waved him toward his Fighter. Trowa was more than happy to oblige.

It felt so much more real to be going through pre-flight checks than sitting upstairs in Level 5, trying to crack a code. In his cockpit it felt like war, and that was what it was, only he wasn't quite sure what side he was supposed to be on. He knew who he wanted to win, but he didn't want anyone to get hurt. No one else should die for the machinations of a machine.

"Bloom!"

He barely froze, looking down at the floor where his Captain was standing, hands on hips, expression of annoyance on his face. At least it wasn't shoot on sight?

"You feeling better then? Was starting to think you were going to miss the war!"

Trowa smiled wanly and nodded.

"Sorry, Sir. Guess I missed a fair bit. Went to bed sick, woke up this morning..."

The man laughed raucously and shook his head.

"Bet that was a shock! Must have been about fifty updates on your board! Not to mention summonses to service!" The man rolled his finger in the signal to get on with launching and Trowa just chuckled with him and went back to running through his checks. He did spare a thought for his message board, and the fact there hadn't been fifty updates or summonses. There had been nothing at all. It had been so completely blank. Almost deliberately so.

What if Frank hadn't even thought to lock him out? What if he'd just decided not to tell him anything was going on to begin with? If a person didn't know something was happening, then he would have no need to investigate it, but would Frank really be that stupid?

If he had no concept of human nature? Perhaps. He thought of the orb and shrugged, because there really was no way of knowing and thinking about it was only wasting time he could have spent thinking about other things.

He finished his pre-flight check and sent for approval, feeling a completely out of proportion sense of satisfaction when he received approval. This was definitely much more his thing. Leave the hacking to someone else, seriously. He launched without giving it another thought, queasily coming back into being on the other side of the bay door, floating in the comforting arms of a much more familiar mistress.

Space. He adored Space. It was too easy to forget inside Frank that he was out there somewhere, still in the great expanse of nothing Trowa loved so much. It was part of what had drawn him to the mystery of Frank to begin with. The idea of a moving, fully functional colony that could go...anywhere. Everywhere. Nowhere, if that was what it chose. Forever a part of Space, and at home there. He couldn't think of anything better, unless Frank had been a giant Gundam. He wondered if Preventers would object to him mounting Heavyarms's head over the eye.

Probably. He sent through acknowledgement to his squadron that he was in position and then just opened the lines because there had been more than fifty bulletins sent to every room in Frank other than his, apparently, and he was damn curious about what they had said.

"What are we just sitting here for? We should just blow up the damn planet and move on. They're never going to stop!"

"Idiot, there are innocent people down there, just like us, that have absolutely no say in what their governments are doing!"

"Of course they have a say, they're not morons are they? They choose to do nothing!"

"So they choose to die!"

"Get real, JJ. If Preventers wasn't being controlled by Winner none of this would have happened. It's greed that's the problem here, not the government. People wanted to control everything!"

Trowa switched off his microphone and laughed. So hard he cried. A lot. An embarrassing amount really, but the longer he listened the worse their arguments became and as boredom sank in they only fought more, a horrible spiral of completely misinformed madness that did nothing but leave him hideously amused.

For people who had moved to a top secret colony to get away from violence, they didn't seem as against it as he would have thought now that push had come to shove. It made him wonder, not for the first time, just how people had been approached about moving to Frank, and what they had to do to be accepted. Had this been a possibility from the start?

Boredom won him over in the end and he switched off his comms and went about what he was actually there to do; spy. His favourite thing! Duo had once sent him a picture of his face on a squirrel peeking out a hole in a tree, with Trowa's hair drawn on it in a mad squiggle Trowa insisted looked nothing like his hair. At the time it had seemed far more ridiculous than it did now.

Earth looked small, a strange misconception he always felt whenever he got past the moon and looked back. Small and vulnerable, and he wanted as ever to protect it but there was a lack of attachment as well. It wasn't home, regardless how hard he tried to make it so. He would fight for it, but he wasn't sure he would have gotten in a Gundam to kick ass for it. He was a colony rat, through and through.

He switched on his secondary communications and linked them to the feed coming from his main comms in case anyone could pick up on it from Earth, sending it on a known Preventers frequency, but he made no attempt to contact anyone in particular. There didn't seem to be any point when they would be inside Frank in a few hours. As long as Farrar didn't hit a snag, but Preventers would be doing everything in their power to help him.

But that just made him feel useless. He wasn't doing anything other than sit in a cockpit and listen and watch. It didn't sit well with him at all and really, what would happen if he took a shot? War, or something else? What if he fired at Earth? Did they even have anything capable of firing back with now? Could they even see them or were they just going on whatever coordinates Yuy had given them? What if he fired on the other SiS? How many could he take out before they even thought to look for one of their own instead of assuming Earth was making its move?

Were they really innocent, if they were in a SiS, ready to fight if attacked? Was it really self defence if you made the first move? But it was Frank who made the first move...right?

They were the same questions he had asked himself when he sat in his Gundam, cannons loaded and finger on the switch only now he felt responsible for the choices. Now he felt too old to be there at all and it made him laugh at himself. Too old by far.

He cloaked his SiS, left a marker in his current position to distract anyone who thought to check if he was there or not and moved off, doing a lap of Frank in case anything had changed on the exterior. It hadn't, but he found himself parked in front of the eye, staring at the design and trying to figure out why they'd chosen it. If maybe it was a family crest, or if it really had a genuine purpose. How many secrets had Harrison taken to the grave? Had to have been a few; mad scientists were _mad _after all.

He flew further afield, blinking when he came across the evidence of a small Preventers armada launching to meet up with a small array of ships he found on the other side of the moon. Just being there brought back memories he hadn't wanted to resurface but he pushed them aside and studied the ships, trying to decide who was on them, and in the end figuring there weren't a whole lot of people he knew to begin with and they were unlikely to be on board. That didn't stop him from making jokes about bad parking.

He'd lost two hours when he decided to try to contact Giles, using his additional communications array so Frank would at least have no access from his end, even if he managed to listen on Giles's end. It was worth trying to keep it from the insane machine.

"Bloom?"

"Yeah, Giles, it's me. There's an army out here, just waiting for someone to fire."

"I suspected as much." Why? What about this situation made him sure Frank was planning to actually have a war? What if Trowa started it before Frank could? Would it change anything?

"Preventers have a few ships on the other side of the moon, and look ready to launch a lot more."

"Just as long as a barricade's all they make." Or what? Frank would have a dandy reason to destroy their home planet?

He was really going to have to do something about his paranoia. It couldn't be healthy.

"Anything else changed out there?"

"Nope. Didn't even hesitate to let me in to Level 1." Ironic really, that as soon as the military actually had a use its training and regulations went out the door. Not that he was surprised, but still.

"We'll see you soon then."

Trowa sighed because he supposed it was time to go back, but he was no closer to helping Hatty, or anyone else really. So they knew the SiS were mobilized and they had access, he didn't see how that was really going to help them. Yet. That didn't mean it wouldn't, it was just frustrating at the moment and he wasn't in the mood to be frustrated.

"See you soon," he whispered but he was looking at Earth and he'd already turned off his comms. He turned his SiS back to his launch point and initiated his docking procedure, not surprised when his body moved without needing mental prompts. Everything about the SiS felt natural to him. It was a little light for his liking but the ship itself was perfect. He liked sitting in it more than he liked sitting on his own damn couch.

That didn't stop him from getting out of the damn thing while his stomach was still protesting his reintegration into gravity and the world of the living.

"Bloom? You're back early. Shifts are nine hours, Son!" I am _not_ your Son.

"Sorry, Sir. Something wrong with my comms. I'll have a check through the manual and see if I can fix it myself."

"I heard about you helping Giles with that wreck a few bays over," the Captain nodded. "We need all the men we can get, and too many of the SiS are having troubles. Get it fixed."

"Yes, Sir." When it damn well pleases me, Sir. He climbed down and took the manual the Captain was holding out, nodding in assertion that he would repair it and waiting for the man to leave before sighing, turning and heading the other way. To the SiS he'd worked on with Giles, because that was going to be the fastest way out.

No one stopped him, too busy with their preparations for war Trowa was determined wasn't going to start. He'd rip Frank's brain out before he allowed that to happen. Maybe. That could get messy and he didn't feel like turning Frank into a giant tomb when the people inside ran out of air, but there was a way out. He just had to convince them to use it.

He used the SiS to get to Harrison's workshop and from there transferred himself through to the lift, striding out deliberately stoic. As if the Molecularization no longer phased him at all when in reality he was very concerned what it was doing to his genitalia.

"The mighty hero returns," Tracey muttered from her desk, looking over her shoulder and pausing briefly to look him up and down. Trowa didn't like being looked at that way, at least...not by her. At the moment.

"Military suits you."

You don't say. Did he need to get an 'I was a Gundam Pilot' badge just to remind people. No one ever seemed to forget Yuy had been one. Quatre might like one too, Trowa just bet it would go down a treat in board meetings. Yes Quatre, of course Quatre, whatever you like Quatre.

"Hacking doesn't suit you?" At least she didn't look successful. She wasn't grinning at him the way Maxwell would had he done something spectacular.

"No. Building stuff suits me, and making coffee," she rolled her eyes and waved a hand at the screen. "Far as I can tell it's a cipher, but without the key there's no way to solve a cipher."

Of course. Trust the computer to come up with the only thing a computer couldn't solve. But who was the information even meant for? If he was making a cipher for Duo it would be a hell of a lot different to one he would make for Heero. And if it was meant for him, what the hell had the person who made it thought he might use to break it? He didn't think throwing a knife at Hatty was going to help their situation at all, even if it would make him feel better.

Was it from Frank? Should they even be wasting time trying to break it? What if he was just trying to distract them? What if even now he was in there with his orb plotting their downfall and moving all his pieces into place while they played along with his game? He didn't want to play Frank's game, he wanted to play like a Gundam pilot. Only there were no cannons, and it was _so_ boring without cannons.

"Well, if it was meant for you it would have to be either something only you know, or something you have available to you here," Giles pointed out softly, looking around at their things strewn...everywhere.

"We're not very tidy squatters, are we."

"When have you ever heard of a tidy squatter?" Trowa asked, bemused, but the man was right. There was absolutely no order to where things were, basically piled up around the base of whatever they'd worked on at each point. The Molecularization Pad with the leftover materials they'd gathered for Farrar, the manuals Harrison had written on them, or Farrar had now that Trowa thought about it, and the bags Heero had decided not to take. The Origen capsule with it's clumps of dry goop around it and smeared across the sides and the various tools Tracey had used to install the device and get Hatty out. Little pieces of Hatty all over the place from installing her legs while she tried to flail around the room. Laptops, clothes, food wrappers, water bottles...

Not tidy at all.

"Are you suggesting we clean?"

"Nope," Trowa definitely wasn't doing that. "I'm suggesting _you_ clean," he corrected, grinning at Tracey. "Men with one shoe can't clean. I might tread on something sharp."

She scowled at him and he was rewarded with his shoe sailing at his head but landing in his strategically placed hand in front of his face.

"Thank you."

"You aren't welcome."

Of course he wasn't, but he felt better. He went around the room, helping to pick up and at least move things into more manageable piles, but it was the books that nagged at him mostly because of the manual the Captain had shoved at him, telling him to repair his SiS. Which was perfectly fine, but Hatty wasn't.

He found himself standing in front of her, just staring at her lips as they moved, whispering the numerical sequence over and over and he started to laugh at her because really, if it was that simple he could cry.

If only because it made her so very human while being so obviously otherwise.

"What is it?" Giles, beside him, staring as if he might be able to see what Trowa was seeing. As if he could read Trowa's thoughts on Hatty's lips, but it wasn't that simple. Trowa just shook his head and went to rummage through the pile of manuals beside the desk, a little bemused by just how many there were now. On the SiS, on the military, on Frank's system, though those were more like tomes than manuals, on the Computer, on shuttle travel...It was a large pile and he had to fish deep to find Hatty's.

It was still scrawled with his notes from when he decided to turn her on and he amused himself by reading his frustrated words as he struggled to understand just what Harrison had done to make her work, and what he'd undone to turn her off. It all seemed so much simpler now and he realised he was starting to understand how Harrison had thought. He was surrounded by so much Harrison had built and all of it had a particular feel to it; a certain pattern that echoed the way it's creator thought. A sequence to how it was built.

And how it was repaired.

"What's the first number in the sequence?"

"Seven." Giles didn't hesitate, just picked up the code and waited.

Trowa turned to page seven and scanned the information, frowning then noticing the diagram.

"Next number?"

"Twenty six."

The diagram was labelled; an overall image of Hatty's components and number twenty six was a core processing unit. He relaxed, finally, just staring at her for a minute before turning her hat a little to the side, feeling...proud. Ridiculously, unbelievably proud, not of himself but of her.

"She's telling us how to repair her," he mumbled and then repeated himself more excitedly, taking the manual to Giles and pointing out the diagram, showing him the correlation and he saw Giles get it immediately they were looking for the next number.

"I'll write instructions," Tracey put in. "You just show me what's broken and read me the relevant information."

That was all that needed to be said. Giles referenced the page and diagram they needed, Trowa told Tracey about the system involved and she wrote out instructions for repair. They didn't try it as they went, wanting to have the full picture of Hatty's malfunction before they attempted a repair job, but it became clear by the end that it could be done.

"That's odd..."

"What is?" Trowa glared at Giles, not liking the interruption when it seemed to him they were finished. Tracey was just completeing the instructions and they would be ready to start.

"The last few numbers in the sequence point to parts of Hatty's manual that have nothing to do with the system the rest relate to, and the last eight numbers all have page references above 1500."

"So?" Tracey frowned but Trowa had paused, staring at the sode himself as though it might magically change and prove Giles wrong.

"So there are only fourteen hundred and fifty seven pages in Hatty's manual." Trowa recalled, cursing silently.

"So what? These aren't instructions for Hatty?"

They were all silent, staring at the long ream of information, now unsure what to do about it. If Hatty wasn't broken and they went about trying to fix her, would they damage her?

"It doesn't seem like it," Trowa muttered, but he couldn't think what else it might be.

"Maybe we got it wrong. Maybe that's not the key to the cipher after all?" Giles dared suggest.

"But these instructions make perfect sense! What, the numbers she just spat out just happen to perfectly much a repair sequence for her while meaning something else as well?" That she didn't believe it was perfectly clear in the amount of sarcasm lacing her words. Trowa just shook his head because she was right.

"It's the right cipher," he whispered, but he felt hollow and aching and he stared at the Origen capsule and felt nothing but hate. There were still otpions, of course, but life had proven that it was rare those options ended nicely.

"It's for the Origen."

"Whoever that is," Giles put in smoothly. "Could be for Nataku? Or the Orb?"

_Or Wufei._ None of them needed to say it. Trowa felt it sharply, as if someone had struck him in the back with a knife. Somehow it hurt all the more that Hatty was the messenger. As if she had somehow betrayed him. As if a robot could betray a human, was capable of malice and vengeance.

"Where'd she get instructions to repair the Origen? She was just sitting there and randomly realised she knew how to make it work?" The sardcasm thing was getting old, but Trowa couldn't blame her. It was his default setting too.

"No. Someone sent them to her." Because they could do that.

"So she does have wireless?" Giles asked, and Trowa would have happily punched him for the ghostly memory of stickiness on his hands.

"She has the capability," Trowa confirmed. "It just wasn't turned on. Or we couldn't tell it was turned on." Something to that effect, anyway. He didn't think he would ever get used to machines changing things behind his back. How was a human supposed to keep up with decisions being made by something beyond his control?

"Hatty? Can you hear us? We understand, we know what you're trying to tell us. You can stop now," Giles spoke so soothingly to her. As if he cared that she was in there somewhere. Wasn't she? Or was this the real Hatty, the machine.

He had no more time to contemplate it. The Pad activated, Quatre appeared, stumbled forward and promptly threw up on Trowa's shoes.


	24. Chapter 24

24:

"You."

"You," Quatre agreed, smiling up at him and Trowa wanted to punch him in the damn face because he'd liked those shoes and he didn't feel like asking the military for new ones. And he only had one of his old ones spare, the other still in his locker on Level 1.

"I would say it's nice to see you, but there are parts of you I wish I couldn't see. Your lunch, for example."

"Sorry," Quatre muttered, wiping his mouth off on his sleeve and looking around, blinking as if he'd just come from a much brighter place, which he had. "That...that sucks!"

"It get's easier."

"That's what Heero said! And I bet it's not true!" Because really, nothing Yuy said was usually true, for the most part. It was just delusional, and Quatre had every right to believe it wasn't going to get any better. Because it didn't, the process remained exactly the same, you just sort of grew accustomed to it. That didn't mean it got easier, it just made you really stupid if you believed when other people said it did. That didn't stop Trowa from smirking.

"Wipe that smirk off your face or I swear I'll make you regret it."

"Sure you will." Because really, what more could he possibly regret at this point?

"Oh wow...is that the other one?" Quatre was already walking circles around Hatty, eyes wide and reaching out to touch her cheek and Trowa didn't have time to warn him before her hand lashed out and slapped him hard across the face. He recoiled and looked like he might cry because the robot apparently didn't like him.

"Oh, don't worry, Trowa's like her favourite thing in the world and she slapped him too. She's just in a mood," Tracey rolled her eyes, wandering past them both to tape her instructions systematically on the wall where they could see them clearly and sequentially.

Quatre still looked ready to cry. Trowa took his hand and tugged him over to a chair, of the opinion Quatre probably needed air, much like himself. And a second to think. Only Trowa had been thinking from the moment Quatre appeared and he wasn't getting any answers from himself.

"What are you doing here?"

"Me? I'm Frank's hostage."  
>"WHAT?" That unison thing again. Trowa felt a little stupid to be gaping like Giles and Tracey but in this case he figured he was allowed.<p>

"Une's idea."

"Because those always work out so well!"

"Yeah well, Heero agreed with this one. I can't do anything anywhere else, and if I'm here and claim to be a hostage then it makes Frank look bad, which can only help us." Unless of course the people saw Frank as a vigilante hero and told him to off Mr Winner to save them, but Trowa noticed Quatre was carefully leaving that part out.

"And how are you going to claim to be a hostage?"

"Send them a video from here with me beaten and begging for help and we'll be all good." He made it sound like a no brainer and Trowa just stared at him, wondering if these were the kind of tactics he used in everyday business and if maybe Frank wasn't right about him needing a demotion, of sorts.

"Beaten?"

"Yes. And you'll have to make it look real, none of that holding back bull- OW!" Trowa punched him hard, in the face, and felt bone break under his fingers. He felt a little bad about that, but at the end of the day Quatre told him to, so no guilt required.

"You broke my nose!" Quatre bellowed at him and Trowa just folded his arms smugly over his chest. One of Quatre's eyes was already purpling. He'd done quite a good job, and with just one punch too!

"I'm bleeding!" Such indignation wouldn't do at all. He didn't sound like he'd been kidnapped, he sounded like he was a stowaway pretending to be captured, which he was, but that wasn't going to work for them at all. Trowa punched him again.

"TROWA!"

"QUATRE!"

They glared and it slowly sank into Quatre that Trowa was just doing exactly as he wanted. He was just enjoying it a great deal more than Quatre had expected. He slowly deflated, sitting back in his chair and cradling his aching face.

"You said real," Trowa reminded him.

"I didn't mean break my face," Quatre grumbled but Trowa knew he wouldn't hold a grudge. Instead he sat quietly while Giles grabbed the laptop and set it up in front of him to make the video.

"Oh, oh, can I be the kidnappers voice? I always wanted to do that!" Tracey was hopping excitedly from one foot to the other as Trowa wheeled Hatty over to sit beside Quatre, just to add to the creepiness of it all.

"Sure. We're going to change it with Frank's vocoder anyway, so it really doesn't matter who's talking," Quatre muttered, sounding nasal and in pain. Trowa had to look away to stop himself from trying to feel bad again. So not his problem, Quatre shouldn't have come if he'd wanted to keep his pretty face in tact.

Somehow, making a ransom come hostage film of his best friend just minutes after said friend appeared out of thin air and he beat him up seemed entirely normal. Trowa wondered what Preventers psychiatry would make of his current mental health and if they would pull him from the mission if they found out. He hoped not, because it was sort of...fun. In an 'I'm delirious and most likely out of my mind' kind of way.

Tracey enjoyed herself immensely pretending to be the big bad wolf better known as Frank, and Quatre begged appropriately for his life, though he looked a little like he wanted to swallow his tongue at one point. It could be brushed off as a grimace of pain by anyone who didn't actually know the man. When they were done, Trowa took Quatre's downstairs, to the apartment below and showed him the shower while he fetched a first aid kit and some fresh clothes. He was done long before Quatre and ended up leaning in the doorway while Quatre finished his shower.

"He's okay." Okay. Not fine. They were different things, especially coming from Quatre. Quatre knew the words Trowa liked to hear, and chose his words deliberately as a result. The sigh that escaped Quatre at his reaction didn't help him at all.

"They've developed a serum that keeps neutralizes the effects of his addiction. They've made these little caps that fit inside the ports on his body, sort of capping them and slowly administering the drug. He's getting stronger fast and seems fine."

They weren't curing him, then. They were just covering up the problem, almost literally. Capping the ports with a drug to keep him addicted? What were they thinking? But he knew, with the threat of Frank still very real healing Wufei came dead last to having an asset who might be able to help them. And Wufei would be on their side, desperate just to be back on his feet, regardless what it cost him personally.

"Damn them!" Trowa punched the wall and didn't regret it at all when pain flared up his arm into his elbow and his knuckles began to bleed.

Quatre got out of the shower and dried off, taking the clothes gratefully and dressing efficiently. It made Trowa grin when he reached for a tie that wasn't there. He pushed Quatre into a chair and went about cleaning up his face, finally allowing himself to feel a pang of regret but it really was his own damn fault. He'd agreed to come here, and Trowa was still technically under orders.

"You too," Quatre noted softly, reaching for Trowa's hand when he was done with his face and quickly tending to the superficial wounds there. It was soothing and Trowa felt calm slowly returning, forcing himself to take deep breaths and relax when all he wanted to do was strangle everyone who should have tied Wufei to a bed and found a real solution. A long term one that would see Wufei going home with him to finally have a life.

"That was it? Upstairs? That's where they kept him?"

Trowa just nodded and refused to look at Quatre. He stared instead at the hot tears that splashed onto his shoulder, comforted that for once they weren't his own.

"Where's Heero?" Because of all the people Trowa had expected to come through on that Pad, Quatre had been very far down on the list. He hadn't been on his 'coming through first' list at all.

"Arguing with Duo about which one of them gets to come back."

"Heero's fighting a losing battle, then." It had been Duo's mission to begin with and Duo's skills were more suited to the job. They needed Heero on Earth, or in one of the Preventers ships, ready to fight if it came to that.

"He is," Quatre agreed with a soft chuckle. They both knew Une wasn't going to let him go now she had him back, and Heero would realise she was right once everything was over and done with and his fear of Duo got hurt was proven right or wrong, one way or the other, but over and done with nonetheless.

"I asked him," Quatre noted softly. "I felt nothing, I don't understand why, and I asked him..."

It made Trowa pause because it wasn't something he had thought to ask. Quatre tended to know things about them, especially Trowa. He couldn't count the amount of times Quatre rang him at strange hours just to 'talk', because he knew Trowa was in one of those moods. Or had one of those dreams. Or was just having a bad day. But Quatre always knew. It was strange, he realised only now, that Quatre had never rung Wufei.

"And?" Even hearing Wufei's words second hand, he felt he had to prepare himself for it, steeling himself as if the words might hurt. He wanted to laugh at himself because if the words had been 'my name is Wufei' he knew they would have hurt just as much as 'he's going to die'. At this stage anything ached, somewhere inside he couldn't afford to examine closely.

But Quatre was smiling and Trowa didn't understand when Quatre reached up and stroked his cheek, loving and accepting and so damn knowing. They'd been best friends for so long, yet such touches were rare. Reserved for when they were really needed, or when the emotions behind words or actions were just too much for Quatre and he needed to express it in his own way.

"My mind was taken by a machine, my heart caught in a sticky web, but my soul was safe all along, with the one who stole it before I left."

Quatre's hand slid away from his cheek and Quatre himself walked away, leaving him there, leaning against the bathroom wall but it was propping him up now as Quatre disappeared and went upstairs. Trowa remained, staring at nothing, hearing nothing, lost in a void of empty longing that slowly filled with hope.

So much time, wasted. But regrets had no place within Frank, he could only move forward and reward Wufei's quiet promises with action. He slid down the wall, hugged his knees and recalled every moment he had shared with Wufei, from finding him in the Origen capsule, to letting Duo take him to a safe haven beyond his control. This was why he was there; why he was fighting so damn hard to solve the conundrum of Frank instead of just blowing it to kingdom come. No matter how much he might hate it, Wufei was inherent in much of what Frank was, from Hatty and Nataku, through to the justice Frank was seeking. It was ironic that it was likely Wufei's insistence on justice that had led Frank on his current path. Some part of Wufei was forever a part of Frank, and Trowa knew he had to accept that if they were going to win, they had to defeat that nemesis because it was the part of Frank that was fighting the hardest.

His soul. With Trowa the whole time. Trowa wanted to be skeptical, to say it was a lovely romantic sentiment but it wasn't real, but at the end of the day Quatre hadn't known and who the hell knew what Wufei had really been through, stuck in Frank. Being one with Frank. Losing himself to the machine. It made Trowa furious and inconsolable. He fought with himself for an indeterminable time before he was able to accept it. Because Wufei had made promises, not in words but in actions. Together. They just had to pass this hurdle.

The hurdle, better known as Frank. Right.

He collected himself and went back upstairs, not surprised to find Quatre staring at the Origen capsule and asking Tracey question after question. He was grateful to have the questions directed at someone else for a change, and she seemed to be enjoying it to boot. He doubted she got to show off very often; people didn't often want to discuss high end robotics and programming while ordering coffee.

He went to sit beside Giles instead of interrupting them and scanned what Giles was looking at.

"Nataku's manual," Giles confirmed his suspicions. "It has...a lot more pages. The start's basically the same, but the end is far more advanced than Hatty's." As was to be expected, Nataku was a far more advanced piece of technology than Hatty, if they could still refer to them as pieces of technology. Harrison's understanding of biology was just as advanced as his inventions, perhaps moreso. He'd achieved something very basic in principle that had eluded mankind for centuries. He'd made a living machine.

"Does it match up with the instructions we have now?" Because if it didn't...

"Not exactly. It might, but honestly the stuff it's talking about it far beyond anything I understand. I just don't know what it's trying to do, let alone how to do it." Giles shrugged apologetically but Trowa couldn't blame him. They weren't Harrison and there was always going to be a limit to what they could do. That didn't mean he didn't wish it was otherwise.

"This place is incredible," Quatre said, coming over to lean against the back of Trowa's chair and see what they were doing. The awe in his voice had long since soured in Trowa's. It was a little amusing to hear it now, from someone else.

"What's keeping Preventers?"

"They're still not sure what to do about Frank," Quatre shrugged. "He's a threat but the sheer size of him makes him a pretty unique one. Seriously, why do you all call it Frank?"

"Duo named it," Trowa shrugged, but when he thought about it that didn't quite make sense. "But just before I came on board, it referred to itself as Frank. Duo was really surprised it knew its name."

"That's weird," Quatre screwed up his nose, clearly not liking the idea of the station just knowing things, while it was something Trowa had grown used to very quickly. He didn't know how Frank did it, but the machine wove its way into things and just knew stuff. Maybe he found a microphone in one of their controls, or on a switched on laptop on their shuttle, and accessed it. Simple things they didn't tend to think about that Frank was thinking about all the time. Those things were dangerous now.

"You'll get used to it," Giles assured him and Trowa just smiled because yeah, he would, and much faster than Giles or Tracey was expecting. Because Quatre tended to just know things too.

"So should we try to fix Hatty, or...?"

"I don't think these instructions are for her. I think she's just stuck on repeat," Tracey noted, coming over to join the discussion.

"Something had to have told her to start relaying the instructions, so she won't stop until that same thing tells her to stop most likely," Trowa mused, but it hurt in a way he didn't want to acknowledge, to see her so steadfastly repeating herself. It was too much like a machine. Too unreal, when she was so real normally. Unless this was normal?

"So what are we doing then?" Quatre actually sounded excited. Trowa supposed this had to be more exciting than sitting on his hands unable to do anything had been on Earth.

But they weren't really doing anything. Their current distraction had been Hatty, but it didn't look like that was something they could fix. Yet. Other than that, they had been waiting for Farrar to build a Pad and send reinforcements to take care of everything for them. But that didn't look like it was about to happen either. Which left them...with nothing to do, really.

Quatre must have figured it out by the way they were just staring at him because he suddenly deflated and slumped.

"Really? We're not doing anything? But the reports you sent were huge!"

Trowa didn't bother to point out that was because Heero had sent them, and had included everything and anything that possibly had nothing at all to do with what was actually going on. They would likely have been huge anyway, but not that huge.

"Sorry to disappoint?" Tracey laughed at him. It was worth it just to see Quatre scowl because the man certainly didn't like being laughed at. He put up with it when Duo managed to prank him, but that was as far as it went, usually.

"Come on, I'll give you a tour." And they could talk, away from Giles and Tracey and even Hatty and just...catch up. He was their hostage, after all, so he might as well get to know why.

"Great!" The excitement was back immediately and Trowa almost regretted the offer. Still, he forced himself up and lead Quatre back downstairs, avoiding the lift mostly because he was beginning to understand the value of shoes. He scrounged a spare pair of house loafers from his newly acquired apartment before moving them out into the halls of Level 5.

"We're on Level 5. It's the rich end of town. There are five levels, each separated into segments, usually a hundred zones, each with a shuttle station and community area."

"It's huge," Quatre mumbled, wide eyed and staring as they emerged into the closest communal zone. Trowa continued to explain things that were unique to life in Frank while they caught a shuttle and rode it through the five levels to see how diverse they were. He surprised himself with how well he knew the place, how it worked and it's people. He hadn't been there long enough to have an infinite knowledge of it all, but he understood why people lived here because having lived there himself he felt the same need to do so. There was something peaceful about living in Frank; a carefree-ness that came from knowing you were entirely alone. That the universe was contained to the small microcosm they had created. Nothing else mattered; that it existed was irrelevant to those inside. They'd given it up, even if Frank hadn't.

"It's amazing," Quatre agreed as they walked into Trowa's room, taking it all in and going to the touch screen on the wall. Trowa stared at the empty expanse with it's blinking cursor and wondered if it had really answered him, or if he'd imagined it. If it might talk to him again, if Quatre weren't there. If Wufei might talk to him.

"I read about this in the reports," Quatre was saying softly, going through the various screens, seeing how people networked and shaking his head as if it were really that surprising after everything else he had just seen. "Reading it on paper…it's not the same. It's too easy to forget  
>how many people live here."<p>

"Heero thinks we should just transport them off and blow Frank up."

"Heero would." Quatre was laughing and Trowa had to agree, it was a trend with Heero. Save the people, destroy everything else. It wasn't a bad policy, per say, it just wasn't that feasible a lot of the time. Which was why Heero was starting to hate paperwork, much to everyone's amusement.

"What are you doing here?"

"My job?" Really, wasn't that a bit obvious?

"In that case you're doing Duo's job, which is fine," Quatre was mumbling, sounding distracted but he stopped playing with the message board and looked seriously at Trowa, sitting on the edge of the bed and studying him in that way only Quatre could.

"You like it here," Quatre noted. "You like this room more than you ever liked your apartment back home, and you like the way things work here more than you ever liked living on Earth. You're tired and stressed and under so much pressure you look ready to fall over, and yet you're happier than I have seen you in years." He smiled, the first real 'I'm your best friend' smile since the whole mess had started and Trowa felt himself relaxing and listening to what Quatre was actually saying.

"You want to save Frank. That's why you're here."

"Frank? No." But the colony…maybe. It deserved saving. They'd done something amazing and yes they had gone about it the wrong way but the right way never would have worked. They'd had the audacity and the means and they'd done it. Trowa couldn't help but admire that.

"It feels like him," Quatre observed and there was a hint of fear in the observation. "You like it here, because the whole thing feels like him." Like Wufei.

Trowa recalled how safe and sheltered he felt inside the SiS; how the feeling was only amplified when he was in it, but he knew Quatre was right and the feeling was everywhere. Something about the idea of Frank, and the success of it just felt like Wufei. The calm of it all. It was like being wrapped up in Wufei, all the time, and yet it wasn't enough.

"What will you do, if Preventers decide to go with Heero's plan?"

It hadn't felt like a real option, before. But now Heero was there, in Une's ear, the people's hero giving her his expert advice and Trowa was stuck on the opposite side, with only Quatre, who had once been the most powerful man in existence and was now just as powerless as Trowa had always been.

What should he do, if Heero really did suggest blowing Frank up, and they all agreed?

"He better not. Though, really…the insurance payout your heir gets would be enough to give them more power than Frank. He really might have a point."

"I don't have an heir," Quatre snorted, very amused by the idea that Heero's plan might be to kill him to nullify Frank's power. He doubted anyone had suggested that course of action when they first suggested to Quatre that he go be Frank' hostage.

"Where's all the money go then?"

"If I die it gets divided up into little pieces. A bit for each of my friends, but most of it to various colony projects I want to see finished."

Of course. Who needed an heir when there were colonies to care for. Some things never changed.

"They won't hesitate to stop you if you try to stop them."

Trowa sighed because he knew that, but he honestly didn't think the Earth Sphere stood a chance against the advanced technologies on board Frank. The SiS alone could annihilate any force sent against them. The Preventers ships couldn't even see them to fire on them, after all. He knew Heero would likely find a way around that, but not in time and time was the important thing.

"The people here are good people. Innocent people, who chose to live simple, peaceful lives. They deserve the right to continue to do so."

"Invisible to the rest of the world?"

"If that's what they choose."

"But they could do anything!" Quatre seemed horrified by the idea and it just made Trowa feel sad, because that would be the reaction of most. It had been his own reaction, at first. What could they get up to, what might they do, what might they be planning? And yes, that element existed, as it did in any society, but for the most part Frank's inhabitants were ordinary, good people, who just wanted to forget.

Trowa saw no reason people shouldn't be allowed to forget.

"Do we condemn people for what they could do now?"

Quatre paused, staring at him and Trowa saw him realise what he was saying and just smiled because, yeah. It was like that. That wasn't the future they wanted, nor one the people would stand for. It was, ironically, what Frank was trying to stop; a small number of people making decisions that were ultimately not in the larger population's best interests. Frank was, rather humanely, just going about it the wrong way.

"What needs to be done?"

Trowa sighed, running a hand through his hair and thinking about it carefully. The goal had to be simple, if it was going to have a simple solution.

"Nullify the threat of Frank."

That was what they had been trying to do, all along. Save the colony but end the threat. It was the how that was eluding them. Everyone had good ideas, it was just that nothing seemed to work. Frank was always one step ahead of them. Or fifty steps, depending on how you looked at it.

"Alright. Well, as your hostage I suppose I am at your disposal," Quatre grinned. It was a little ridiculous with his black eye and swollen nose but as long as he was enjoying himself Trowa didn't want to spoil it for him.

"You're not my hostage," Trowa grumbled but he was grinning too. "But since you're here…"

"I'm going to regret this, aren't I." It wasn't a question and Trowa just smirked. Oh god yes, he was going to regret it, and Trowa was going to enjoy every second of it because it was about time someone else had to deal with his new daily life.

He opened his closet door and motioned to the Pad there, amused when Quatre paled and began sweating a little.

"Do we have to?"

"It's a two hour trip back to Level 5 otherwise," Trowa pointed out stoically.

Quatre took a deep breath and stepped up to the Pad, sighing when he got on it and looked up at Trowa.

"Well…it's not like I can throw up anything else, is it."

They re-Molecularized in the lift and Quatre stumbled sideways into the wall, bumped his broken nose, yowled in pain as he stumbled backward, hit the other wall, slid down it and rolled onto his side, coughing with nausea fuelled by pain and disorientation. Trowa laughed hard as he stepped over him and out of the lift, letting Tracey hurry in to help Quatre up, only more amused by her  
>soft soothing promises that it would get better.<p>

"Welcome back," even Giles was chuckling, spinning lazily in his chair, not bothering to get up because Trowa was coming to him, to check on what he'd been doing with the new instructions from Nataku's manual.

Only he never got there.

"TRITON!" Trowa had enough time to look sideways before Hatty barrelled into him, launching herself out of her chair and throwing herself across the distance between them, sending them both careening into the wall of circuitry behind him. Her arms and legs wrapped around him like limbs of an octopus, tight enough to leave significant bruises but he was too dazed to do  
>anything about it.<p>

"It's so good to see you again! You were gone and you didn't say where you were going or how long you were going to be and I missed you so so so so much! Where were you? Why did you go away? Did I do something? Was Hatty bad? I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be bad, I promise!"

Leaning on Tracey's arm for support, Quatre looked down at him with an expression Trowa couldn't quite place and Trowa just felt helpless, stumbling to his feet and trying to pry Hatty off him.

"Hatty, calm down! Get off me! You've got to…let go!" She finally seemed to realise she was wrapped around him and dropped off but she clung to his arm with both of her own, rubbing her cheek against his elbow and he sighed, figuring that's as good as it was going to get for now.

"You weren't bad, Hatty, you were very good, and I just took Quatre on a tour of Frank. See? This is Quatre. He came while you were…sleeping."

She looked over at Quatre with wide eyes, mouth a little open, as if in awe. As if a robot could feel awe. He sighed and rubbed his hip where she had smacked it with her knee.

"Hello, Hatty, it's nice to meet you!"

Hatty stared for a few seconds more before ducking behind Trowa and hiding, peeking out around his side to steal glances at Quatre. Which was new. Hatty was sometimes suspicious, and always curious, but never shy. The hell?

"Ahh…guess it might take her awhile to get used to me?" Quatre grinned nervously, looking around at all of them because they'd never seen Hatty not just like someone immediately and start chatting away. It was weird, plain and simple.

"Guess so," Trowa agreed, because it was easier than hurting Quatre's feelings by pointing out that Hatty just plain didn't like him for some reason. He didn't have time to contemplate it any further though because the Pad activated and his attention went there immediately.

Nataku stepped off, calm and collected and in the strangest outfit Trowa had ever seen. Skin tight black…something, that looked like a second skin and each of her plugs were capped, just as Quatre had said Wufei's were, with a gold sphere, a liquid visible inside. Her hair was tied back like Wufei's and her face was unreadable. Her boots were Earth shoes, steel capped and calf high and laced tight. She looked lethal, which was definitely new.

"You know a little warning before you come through would be nice," Giles muttered and Trowa couldn't agree more. Were they really going to have to put up with people just showing up out of the blue.

Nataku kept her gaze pinned on Trowa, no hint of emotion as she un-holstered her gun and aimed it at his head.

"I believe you have my hostage." 


	25. Chapter 25

25:

Somehow, despite knowing he should be, Trowa was not surprised. He stared at the gun in Nataku's hand and then at her face and he had no idea if she was doing it because she wanted to or because she had no choice but the why was at this point irrelevant. She had a gun aimed at him, and that didn't sit well with him at all. More importantly, she had a gun pointed at him and Quatre.

"Taku?"

"Hand him over. Now."

"Son of a..." Giles muttered and Nataku snarled but her hand didn't waver and her gaze remained frozen on Trowa. That she felt frustrated, Trowa thought was a good sign. Frustration meant she was at least still thinking about it, even if it didn't mean she necessarily had a choice.

"You know I can't do that," Trowa replied coldly, still not sure what to make of the situation and wishing he had more time to sleep, get himself together and then _think _about things, because he wasn't really sure about anything any more and suspected he was losing his mind. For all he knew he was dreaming right now, only that would have been too easy.

"I know." Was that remorse he heard in her voice? For what? That couldn't be good… "I was just hoping I didn't." Nataku replied and there was a hint of a smile as she pulled the trigger.

Trowa heard it a long time before he felt it. The click as it all came together inside and then the bang as it exploded out. He fancied he even heard the hiss of air it displaced as it travelled and he definitely heard the thunk as it collided with flesh and bone.

He realised he was falling a moment before he felt the floor and the cold of it and heard Quatre crying out, reaching for him and clutching at his hand. All of it long before he felt anything. His fingers were numb. He only knew Quatre was holding his hand because he could see their fingers entwined.

By the time it registered, that he'd actually been shot, Nataku had forced Quatre off him with inhuman strength and hauled him into the lift. Where they went from there, Trowa had no idea. He was still on the floor, wondering why it was so damn cold, and why his heart was beating so damn loud in his ears.

"Fuck! Oh my god…_Fuck!" _Giles swearing was odd and Tracey seemed to be muttering under her breath, but Trowa couldn't make it out over the pounding in his ears. That was when it started to register. A deep ache at first that grew in intensity, blooming through his chest and spreading through his side. It felt…wet. Too wet, and that was when it all came together in his sleep addled brain.

"She shot me!"

"Triton?" Hatty was hovering worriedly by his side, looking horrified and confused at the same time. It wasn't a look that suited her incomplete face. He wondered if it made any sense to her, being shot? If it would have hurt, had it been her? He didn't want her to find out, ever, which was a little ironic considering who'd shot him. But he knew by the look on her face, by the _expression, _which _was_ human, regardless of anything else, that she was innocent. That she cared, and even if she didn't understand it right now she was hurting because he was hurt.

"She shot me!" Trowa pointed out to Hatty, not really having believed she was capable of it. She'd always seemed so…so…_So like Wufei_. As if Wufei would hesitate to shoot him if he felt it was necessary. He'd just been a love sick fool and hadn't been willing to accept she was her own person…robot…whatever. Of course she could bloody well shoot him. And she _had! _

"Fuck. She shot me!" It was still a little hard to believe.

"We know she shot you, you're all over the fucking floor!" Tracey ground out, trying to help Giles cut away pieces of his shirt and bind it around the wound. Trowa wasn't even sure where it was, somewhere in his chest but it was hard to pinpoint exactly where when it all hurt. All felt cold and engulfed in agony. Was it really supposed to hurt that much?

"We've got to get him help," Giles muttered and was already hauling him toward the Pad, pointing at the table. "Hatty, set the Pad to the Earth coordinates we have!"

"Yes, Sir!"

"No!" But they were ignoring him, dragging him on and Hatty was doing as she was told and he wanted to hit her, teach her that she didn't have to. That she had free will. But what if they didn't? Wasn't this proof enough that they certainly did not? Unless this was Nataku's will, he had no way of knowing. He just didn't want to believe it. Why the hell did she shoot him? What was she going to do with Quatre? _What the hell was going on? _

"I have to stay here!" He had to make sure Quatre didn't die, and that Frank didn't win, and that Heero didn't blow them all up. No way could he leave just because he got shot.

"What you need is something to plug the fucking hole in your chest!" Tracey snapped and he had to agree that she was probably right, but they could do that here. Right? He knew first aid, he would give them instructions, they would patch him up and it would all be fine. They could get on with the real work that had to be done.

It was only then that it occurred to him that it had to be bad. That there was a lot of blood scrawled across the floor where they had dragged him and that his inability to feel much was not likely a good sign. That they were panicking because they couldn't just patch him up; because he might be dying.

"Fuck."

"Send him Hatty!"

"I want to go with Triton!" Hatty was at his side immediately and holding his hand and Trowa stared at his hand in hers and felt that same strange sense of pride. She wasn't Nataku, or Wufei. She was her own…person? He wanted to tell her something reassuring, to give her a positive to think about. To assure her everything would be okay and they would find a way to beat Frank and everyone would live happily ever after. He wanted to give her a fairy tale, because little girls always liked those.

But he'd never believed in them himself, they were never reality. And words didn't come, or escape him.

Tracey dragged Hatty off the Pad screaming and Giles hit a key on the keyboard. It was the last thing Trowa saw before the nausea and agony pulled him under.

There were no dreams, no fears, no thoughts. There was nothing at all, not even consciousness of nothing.

_Beep. Beep. Beep. _

Frowning, Trowa tried to ignore the incessant noises but they were like a clock ticking in a silent room and that had always bugged the crap out of him. He forced himself to accept he was waking up and let his eyes slide open.

"You got shot."

That voice. Trowa's eyes went wide and he tried to sit up but pain blossomed hard through his chest and he found himself still on his back, struggling for breath.

"Idiot! Stay still!"

He forced himself to take deep breaths, waited for the pain to subside before daring to open his eyes for fear it was a hallucination. At first he thought it was. He wasn't sure half the past few days hadn't been a hallucination. Apart from the getting shot bit, that was obviously real.

The same skin tight black suit, the same golden caps on the plugs, the same liquid inside. The same boots, the same hair…the same face. He felt panic rising as he took it all in, distracted by the appearance and thinking, just for a moment, that he had been taken by Her. But this time the voice was the one he wanted to hear and when he met the annoyed gaze it was Wufei's soul looking back.

"Wufei…"

"No, the tooth fairy, yes Wufei you moron!"

Trowa didn't think that was really fair. It wasn't like there was much he could have done about anything. Because he remembered now that Wufei had reminded him. He was shot. By _Nataku! _Somehow that only made it worse. A lot worse. She was supposed to be his companion, a brother in arms. He really had to be more careful when picking allies.

Note to self: robots are untrustworthy. But Hatty's face came to mind and he just sighed. Generalizations were bad for ones health, and politically incorrect to boot. That was how they'd taught Heero, anyway, after the war, and it seemed to have worked for him. So far. It didn't stop his first reaction being 'destroy everything' though.

"Don't sigh at me! Do I have to remind you, you got shot? As in someone put a bullet in you. And not just a bullet in you, but they blew a hole through your damn chest? A really big one that leaked blood everywhere and left you with little pieces missing?"

It was nice, to hear Wufei so furious. It meant he was feeling better, and that he cared, both being things Trowa treasured. He smiled, knowing full well it wasn't what Wufei wanted to see but unable to do anything else. He was happy to be there, with Wufei again, regardless of the circumstances.

Even if he did have to go and get back to Frank. Hatty would be worried.

"Lie the fuck down!" Wufei bellowed at him, standing up and pinning him hard to the bed.

"Hi." Had his eyes always had that hint of honey near the edge?

But he was glaring hard and Trowa forced himself to think seriously. He was shot, but how bad? Wufei said pieces missing. Rib likely, and that wasn't too bad, but his lungs hurt which meant it had probably put a hole in one and that definitely wasn't good. That took far too long to heal. So he wasn't likely to be going anywhere anytime soon. Not with permission, anyway.

"Quatre?"

"Heero and Duo have gone in." That was a start, and Wufei clearly seemed to think it was the end of it. Trowa had to agree that Duo and Heero weren't likely to give up until the mission was accomplished but it felt wrong. It was his mission, not theirs. Quatre's safety had been his responsibility and he'd screwed it up all because he trusted a machine. Had valued a machine the same way he valued his friends.

"I'm serious, Barton. Stay in the bed or I'll break your legs." He would, too.

"How long was I out?" He knew as soon as he asked, by the way Wufei hesitated, for even a second, that it had been a while.

"Four days." _Days!_

Four days, and Heero and Duo weren't back yet, didn't have Quatre back yet. But that might not be true, they might have Quatre and just be staying on Frank, to keep an eye on things. Like he was supposed to be doing. Or they might all be dead. Nataku wasn't human, who really knew what she was capable of. Sure, she'd been on their side, but she sure as hell wasn't now.

Was she?

"Why'd she do it?" It was a rhetorical question. He was just voicing it to get his thoughts clear around the fuzziness he felt from the drugs. But Wufei sighed and slumped back in his chair, toying idly with the edge of the sheet.

"Who shot you?"

They didn't even know that? Trowa gaped, wondering just what the hell had been going on for _four days _that they hadn't even found that out. Was it that unimportant? Was _he_ that unimportant that it didn't even matter who put an apparently giant hole in his chest?

"Nataku."

Not even a flinch, just a very slight frown and Trowa could see him thinking about it. Was he worried? Was it concerning that his female clone robot had tried to kill his lover? Did he consider that a betrayal? Did he even think of him as his lover? He wished he could read Wufei's mind.

But the frown turned dark and Wufei's eyes were blank, as if he were a long way off suddenly, seeing something else, doing other things. No sitting beside Trowa having a conversation at last. Not really there at all.

Very carefully, so as not to disturb anything, Trowa forced himself to sit up, shifting his pillows to support him and moving the various contraptions they had him hooked up to so they weren't tangled across him, all the while leaving the piece of sheet in Wufei's hand perfectly still. Wufei didn't react at all, which was a good thing in Trowa's opinion as he valued his legs and the ability to walk and he had no real doubt that Wufei would follow through on his threat.

But Wufei was otherwise occupied, and Trowa took the chance to really look at him. He was still pale, and thin, and there was a light sheen of sweat on his skin from recent exertion, but he looked a thousand times better than the last time Trowa had seen him. The plugs appeared a neat invention, even if he didn't really approve. He understood them needing a temporary fix to keep Wufei alive, but this seemed a little too permanent. He wanted the plugs gone, removed and Wufei free of the Origen capsule for good. This wasn't free, not by a long shot.

Especially when he was doing what he was doing.

Fury rose in Trowa, but he didn't take it out on Wufei like Heero might have. It wasn't fury aimed at Wufei to begin with, so what would have been the point in that. No, he'd had his bed rest, and it was time to move. He didn't have time to sleep, nor any inclination to do so. He left the sheet in Wufei's care and very carefully shifted himself to the side of the bed, no longer surprised when Wufei didn't react at all. He wasn't seeing Trowa at all.

Getting up was harder than he had expected, but once there the rest was easy. He turned off the alarms first, then the machines, placing it all carefully away before looking around the room for his clothes. They were gone. What was it with hospital staff always stealing your clothes? There was something really inherently wrong in that!

Walking was hard, and it hurt. A lot. The first step he almost fell flat on his face. The second he wished he had, but it was like Molecularization. It got easier, somehow, and he made it to the door, leaning on it for support and looking up and down the hallway outside.

"Preventers Medical. Dandy." That meant the Pad Farrar had built couldn't be that far away. Up a few levels, in whatever room Heero had deemed worthy.

"TROWA BARTON YOU ARE A DEAD MAN!"

And finally, Wufei had stopped being creepy and was back to screaming at him. Hands came up under his arms and supported him, Wufei's weight solid behind him and Trowa felt himself relax back into it as though it were natural. He wanted it to be.

"Please don't break my legs."

"Don't beg me like a dog," Wufei grumbled, but Trowa knew he'd won him over. Besides, he'd walked on his own. He was fine. Especially while Wufei was holding him like that. It felt good…ridiculously, incredibly, unbelievably good. Maybe he should get shot more often…

"Get shot again and I'll break more than your legs!" Wufei snapped. Trowa hadn't known he was so easy to read. Quatre wouldn't have known what he was thinking, but then Quatre wouldn't have been holding him quite the way Wufei was. It just made Trowa happy, which he supposed was a little masochistic of him, but he didn't care.

"I need clothes."

Wufei looked him up and down and then sighed, changing his grip and putting one of Trowa's arms over his shoulders so he could support his weight better. Pain ripped through Trowa's chest at the position but he didn't complain, gritting his teeth and refusing to show it hurt because Wufei would make him go back to bed. No way was he going back there now.

Wufei assisted him down several hallways and into a storage closet, closing the door and rummaging through the shelves until he pulled out a clean Preventers field uniform in Trowa's size. It was so random, and so perfectly a Wufei thing to do, to go get a damn _uniform_ to put on instead of just the first clothes he could find, that Trowa laughed. Wufei clearly didn't find it amusing, but that only made him laugh more. It was typical that he had to get shot just to feel so damn good.

"Get dressed," Wufei grumbled, kneeling down to help him into the trousers, getting the zip and button for him at the fly. It felt good just to have pants on again, he didn't fancy the idea of the nurses ogling his ass. The t-shirt was harder and he had to bite his tongue from screaming, managing to keep it to a few grunts as Wufei helped get it over his bandages. It gave him a better understanding of his injuries and just why Wufei was so concerned. Whatever she'd shot him with, it sure as hell hadn't been a simple pistol.

Shoes and socks were easy after that; he just sat down and Wufei put them on for him. Trowa came up with all kinds of inappropriate fantasies while Wufei was kneeling between his knees but he figured it was perfectly normal. They were locked in a closet, after all, and it was the man of many, many, many of his dreams. So. Totally normal.

"What happened, in the room…" Because Wufei had left it, or his mind had, and Trowa needed to know.

"There's…stuff…in my brain. Things they did, to make me." To make him part of Frank. Like Nataku. The plugs were just the surface, there was more underneath. Which was likely why they had opted for the temporary solution of the caps. To buy them time to study Wufei and what had been done to him. Trowa wanted to scream at them, to say no and demand they fix him now. Only that made him sound like a machine, because he needed repairs, and that wasn't so. Wufei was perfect, before and now and after, Trowa just wanted him happy and he didn't think the ports made him happy at all.

"Wufei…can you access Frank?"

"Yes." And Trowa was certain no one else had bothered to ask, or even put two and two together.

"Nataku?"

"A little, but she's out of my control at the moment." Because she was in Frank's. But for how long had she been working against them? How much of their work had been sabotaged? How much had Frank known of what they were doing? How much about Preventers did Frank now know?

"At the moment?"

"When I was the Origen, she was like my legs. I could ask her to do things and she would. But after…" He shrugged and there was a sense of loss to the tone of his voice. Trowa understood it well, but he doubted his own feeling of betrayal was anything akin to Wufei's. She had been a part of him, his only means of communication in the world.

"After we plugged her in," Trowa realised. That was when Wufei had lost contact with her. Wufei just nodded and Trowa sighed, leaning back against the wall while Wufei slid a belt through his pants just to make sure he didn't embarrass himself completely.

They'd done a lot since Nataku went in the capsule and Wufei came out. So much, and Frank had known about all of it. No wonder everything they tried had failed. It had all been so laughably easy for Frank. They had all been so stupid.

"I don't think Frank had control of her the whole time," Wufei said softly, looking at Trowa's face and guessing the line of his thoughts. "I could still communicate with her, if I needed to." Just not control her. "But just before she came here that connection severed entirely. I can't access her at all now."

That made Trowa frown, thinking about what they had been doing before they sent Hatty through to Earth. Farrar had been building the Pad, Tracey was helping him, Giles was…being Giles. Nothing out of the ordinary, except…

"They repaired her access. Boosted her wireless."

"What? Who did?"

"Farrar."

The name clearly meant more to Wufei than it did to Trowa, because his eyes went wide and there was fear clear in every line of his body. Trowa reacted immediately, reaching out and drawing him in against his chest, ignoring how much it hurt and just cradling him.

"Shh. You're safe. I'm here, it's going to be okay."

"I never knew you were such a moron," Wufei snapped, carefully extracting himself and examining Trowa's chest as if he expected to see blood. When there wasn't any he just folded his arms over his chest and glared.

"Let us get one thing straight. You do not leave my side. You do not try to be a hero and you do not try to protect me. I protect you. You are the one with a hole in your chest."

"Technically, you have a hole in yours too…" And he so shouldn't have pointed that out judging by the way Wufei had a knife pointed at his face.

"Get it through that over-imaginative moronic brain of yours. I am in charge here. I'm taking you with me because if I didn't you would go do something stupid on your own."

It was so _nice_ to know Wufei knew him so well. Trowa just nodded agreement because he didn't actually want to argue. Go with Wufei? Hell yes. Do what Wufei said? For the most part, hell yes! What was supposed to be the down side of this?

"Through my over-imaginative moronic brain it is."

Wufei rolled his eyes but put his knife away but not before staring at the blade and frowning and Trowa knew exactly where they were going next, which was good because he was getting himself one of these nifty guns that blew massive holes in people. Or two of them.

"Armoury," Trowa grinned because those places were just fun.

"Armoury," Wufei agreed, helping Trowa up and checking the hallway outside. There was a commotion around the corner and Trowa realised they knew he was gone.

"Gig's up, let's move." But he didn't need to say it. Wufei was already slipping under his arm, taking his weight and hauling him out of the closet. They moved quickly, and Trowa honestly had no clue at all where they were going until Wufei left him leaning against the wall and rounded a corner by himself which was just not on. Trowa scowled and shifted enough to peek around the corner himself just in time to see Wufei knock the second guard unconscious.

He didn't mind hanging back and watching Wufei do his thing. At all. He was just concerned that Wufei wasn't ready to be doing things like knocking people unconscious. Not that he was going to tell Wufei that was what he was worried about, he didn't have a death wish. Life was far too good to be trying to off himself.

"Stop staring," Wufei grumbled, hauling Trowa into the armoury and it was the perfect distraction for both of them. Trowa wasn't surprised at all to see Wufei head for the blades, moving himself to the guns because really, what had that thing Nataku had looked like?

There it was. It looked shiny and new and he strapped one to a holster on his thigh immediately, and then took another. Only there were so many more interesting looking things and he found himself strapping on a lot more holsters and then knives. Oh god, he loved knives and Preventers armoury had some beautiful knives. He took as many as he could hide and then turned to grin at Wufei.

"You're like a child, I swear." But he was smiling and Trowa knew it wasn't just because he had a sword strapped to his back. He let Wufei slip in under his arm again, glad he hadn't strapped anything sharp around his chest and then they were moving again and he had to grit his teeth against the pain. It was getting easier though, his mind numbing to it the longer he had to move and cope with it.

"Do we have a plan?" Because Heero was always such a stickler for plans and Trowa was wiling to admit he had gotten used to Heero having a plan.

"You said Farrar repaired Nataku's access issues? Ones she had been having since she was removed from the capsule?"

"Yes?"

"Farrar is the one that stuck all this shit in me!" Wufei ground out and the rage was back, making his eyes dark and his expression darker. His hands clutched at Trowa, but the ache of them felt good against the agony of his wound. And the pain of knowing he'd trusted someone he shouldn't have. Again.

Farrar. He remembered the way Farrar had looked at Wufei at the temple when they sheltered there from the search for the Origen, and remembered that Farrar had recognised Wufei immediately. He'd thought it strange at the time, but hadn't followed his suspicions, wanting to trust. He'd been a damn Monk! But he'd known, recognised Wufei immediately, because he'd been inside Wufei, stripped him down to bone and muscle and rebuilt him.

Just like he'd built the Pads, while Harrison was busy building and designing Frank, Farrar had been building the Origen to run it. Not brothers at odds with one another but brothers in arms, working together, each with their own cover. Harrison in the military, keeping an eye on people's actions while Farrar was in the shrine, keeping an eye on their souls.

"I'm such a moron."

"I've been trying to tell you that since you woke up."

"Where is he now?" Because he wanted to kill the man and he had fancy new guns he knew for a fact would hurt appropriately.

"Last I heard he was going back to Frank to reprogram the additional Pads to link to Earth through the main one on Level 5."

Great. So they would have immediate access to all the points in Frank from Earth. Except Level 1. At least Farrar couldn't get there, if he was working for Frank as they suspected.

"So we're following, right?" That was the plan?

"We're following." He _liked_ this plan! Though he had visions of re-Molecularizing only to be shot again as soon as they arrived. He kept those thoughts to himself.

Wufei seemed to have a much better understanding of Preventers than Trowa, judging by the weaving, backwards way they took to get into the higher levels. That, or he was horribly lost.

Only the emerged into a hallway with two guards on the door who looked distinctly uncomfortable at seeing them both there and when Wufei approached they just stepped aside.

The Pad was in the middle of the room, and was a hell of a lot bigger than the one on Frank, not to mention the laser. Trowa recalled that the one on Frank's Level 5 didn't need to be as large because it was connected wirelessly to Frank's eye. This sure as hell seemed to make up for it. Though really, Trowa was still questioning it's ability to send him all the way to Frank and not leave him out in space somewhere. Or nowhere at all.

"Barton, what the hell are you doing out of bed? You were shot, if someone neglected to tell you!"

"I told him. Numerous times," Wufei grumbled. Une seemed unimpressed, glaring at them both down her nose and it was the first time Trowa realised how tall she had grown. She was almost his height, when he was standing, which wasn't quite what he would call what he was doing now.

"I'm fine."

"Yes, because fine people lean on other fine people all the time." But she turned and spoke quietly to one of the men, who hurried out to do whatever errand she had arranged before she turned back to them.

"You're not going."

"We are," Wufei corrected. "You either let us officially, or I'm going to knock you out and go anyway."

"Are you now," Une arched a brow at him and Trowa had to smile because she had to get a lot of threats like that with Duo and Heero permanently on staff. He looked mild by comparison and felt a little left out.

"Not me. I'm just going to shoot you."

That got both their attention and Trowa just grinned, smug and entirely delighted by their reaction. At least he didn't feel left out anymore.

"Alright, alright, but at least tell me why?"

"Farrar is working for Frank," Trowa replied immediately, watching her quickly put the pieces of the puzzle together and she was nodding, just like that and he realised that was why she was head of Preventers. She understood when things were convoluted, and saw possible solutions and leapt to massive conclusions most people simply weren't capable of. It was, perhaps, what Treize had seen in her, many years ago now.

"Bring him in, if you can." If. Which meant they had permission to kill if it wasn't. Like they needed permission.

But Trowa was chuckling as he stepped onto the Pad and got ready to go and Wufei glared at him for an explanation.

"It's just, before I got shot…we were complaining about people from Earth just showing up with no warning."

"Well. Let's hope Giles hasn't learnt from your mistake," Wufei grumbled, hauling Trowa into position with him.

"I don't make mistakes!"

"You meant to get shot?"

Une looked entirely relieved to press the send button.


	26. Chapter 26

26:

Anyone who complained about Molecularization would forever have Trowa's scorn, because nothing could compare to the feeling of a gunshot wound re-Molecularizing in your chest. He wheezed hard and stumbled off the Pad, aware of Wufei letting him down, checking the room and then just standing there, nearby and ready if Trowa needed him. Trowa needed air, was what he needed. He took long swallows and struggled to feel anything past the pain before he finally managed to Push himself into a sitting position.

The room was empty, but looked like a bomb had done off. Or several bombs. There were holes in some of the circuits on the walls, a burn mark streaked across the floor and the computers and manuals they had set up were strewn across the floor as if someone had pushed over the table, and tripped over the contents. There had been a fight, shots fired and blood across the floor. That last might have been his, but the splotch over in the corner wasn't his.

Wufei went to the wall and snatched up the instructions Tracey had put up, compiling them quickly in order and shoving them into Trowa's bag, which had been tossed into a corner, discarded. He found Trowa's copy of Hatty's manual, and his SiS manual and shoved them in before going back to help Trowa to his feet.

"We need to move."

"I know, I'm fine. Let's go."

Only Wufei didn't move, just stared at him and there was something strange in it. Something Trowa couldn't quite place and he felt out of his depth just standing there with Wufei staring at him.

"Let's get this straight. You're not fine. If you need to stop, you tell me. If you need a hand, you tell me. If you need anything at all, you tell me. Otherwise I put you back on that Pad and I send you back to Une, and I don't care if you shoot her."

"Straight," Trowa agreed, mostly because he desperately needed a crutch and immediately slumped against Wufei's shoulder, sighing in relief as it took the pressure off his middle. Who knew standing was so complicated?

Wufei didn't wait any longer, taking them downstairs and getting them down to the shuttle station. They didn't talk until they were safely seated in a carriage alone, heading for Level 1.

"You're tracking Hatty." It wasn't a question because Trowa already knew. He'd seen Wufei phasing in and out, obviously accessing something and then they would move on. He couldn't risk accessing Nataku and letting her know they were there, but Hatty was different. Just how different remained to be seen, but it was the different part that mattered.

"She's in Harrison's workshop."

"How'd she get there?" Because you couldn't Molecularize into the workshop, only out of it and the only way in they had was the broken SiS Harrison had set up for just that reason. It occurred to Trowa that Farrar might not even know the workshop existed. That Harrison might have made it specifically so Farrar couldn't access it. That Harrison had figured something out, or at least suspected.

"Everything Frank's done, made Farrar the richest man in the world."

"You've only just figured that out?" Wufei snorted and shook his head, clearly annoyed. Trowa watched him, forcing himself to finally take a minute to stop and think about the whole thing, assimilate everything he knew and didn't know about Frank and what was going on and it occurred to him he'd let his personal feelings get very much in the way of his professional ones.

"Frank isn't Frank, is he?"

"Frank is Frank," Wufei corrected. "He's just not what you all seem to think." Wufei sighed and tugged his ponytail over his shoulder, toying with the ends, brushing them against his lips and Trowa realised he liked the feel of it. It had to tickle a little and Trowa doubted that was a sensation Wufei had felt in a very long time.

He'd ignored his best source of information, fooled by his own fear for Wufei's wellbeing.

"Frank, by design, requires a human conscience, to make decisions. Without it his life support systems function for about a month before the whole system starts to shut down. It's his failsafe."

So they had to keep someone plugged in, or get everyone off the station. They'd plugged the orb in about five days ago, maybe six. They had three weeks to solve the problem. It felt like an age, to Trowa. Plenty of time, surely?

"When I first noticed Farrar accessing the system, I didn't know what to make of it. He didn't seem to be doing anything, but after a while I saw a pattern to his access. I didn't know what he was doing but I was worried. So I devised my own plan, but it was…hard." It sounded like hard didn't begin to cover it.

"You had control?" He'd been able to do things.

"It's not like control. I wasn't me anymore. I was…part of the machine. I was making decisions for the machine, because it was me…" He shook his head, clearly unable to explain it. Trowa doubted he would ever find the words, but wasn't about to stop him trying.

"You made Frank destroy the satellites to get me to come." How had he known it would be Trowa? Only of course it would be. Wufei had been a Preventer, he knew they would have given it to Duo, and that Heero would have insisted he call in Trowa, and that it would be them.

"That's how Frank knew my name." Because it had been Wufei, all along.

"It wasn't me," Wufei said softly. "In a way, it was never me." He sounded sad and Trowa would have done anything to take it away, but knew that wasn't possible so they just sat in silence and Trowa reached out to take Wufei's hand and just held it, warm and safe in his own.

He needed time to think. To remember everything that had happened and see it from his new perspective. All those conversations on the message board, he couldn't be sure who he'd been talking to. Wufei, or Nataku or Hatty, even Farrar was a possibility. Or just Frank the machine, it could have been anyone! He felt violated, as though he'd come home after weeks of wearing underwear to learn someone had rifled through his underwear drawer.

"Do those hurt?"

The question clearly startled Wufei and he looked down at the cap on the plug on the back of his hand as if he was surprised to find it there. As if he could forget they were all over his body. Eventually, Wufei just shrugged.

"Does your chest hurt?" It hurt that bad? Each one, or all of them collectively? He wanted to know but knew Wufei wouldn't tell him.

"My chest hurts," he confirmed, just to try and get a rise and he was rewarded with Wufei shifting uncomfortably but Trowa refused to let go of his hand and he couldn't move far without them both looking ridiculous.

"You weren't supposed to get shot."

"I apologise. It wasn't exactly my fault." And he laughed softly because only Wufei would make out like he'd done it deliberately, just to annoy the man and get some sympathy. Not that he wouldn't have considered it, but he wouldn't have thought it would actually work and getting shot for no reason at all really just didn't appeal.

"That's not...that's not what I mean, and you know it," Wufei grumbled, finally looking at him, meeting Trowa's gaze with one that hurt because it meant Wufei cared. A lot.

"I'm sorry." Honestly, it had been a tad on the unavoidable side of things!

"Hatty's override was activated recently?"

"Yeah, she was spazzing out, kept repeating these instructions over and over. It wasn't you then..." When he'd realised Wufei had wi-fi access he'd hoped it had been under his orders that Hatty had flipped out, but that only left one option and Trowa didn't like that at all.

"It must have been Nataku."

"Maybe," but Wufei didn't sound convinced and that left a sour taste in Trowa's mouth. Or maybe that was just fluid from the hole in his chest? It was hard to say. That Wufei wasn't sure meant it could have been Farrar, or Frank, or anyone else who knew what was going on. Hell, if he was going to start pointing fingers at suspects he should put Heero and Duo on that list as well. Maybe even Quatre, and Une.

It was a good thing he wasn't that fond of lists.

"So really, Heero doesn't even need to blow Frank up? He just needs to sit back and watch the Station switch itself off?"

"Theoretically? Yes," Wufei muttered, but he seemed confused by the change in conversation. That only amused Trowa, because as far as he was concerned it was still the same, giant conversation they had been having since he woke up, it just had a whole bunch of sub-topics involved.

"Heero would find that very disappointing."

"You don't say." And finally he won a smile, though it wasn't like the smiles Wufei used to give him when he did something truly outrageous. Like the time he'd trained a bird to say 'I love you Wu' and let it loose in the cafeteria at lunch. It had taken weeks for Wufei to forgive him, and that wasn't including the report he had to write explaining what he had done to Une, and why, and that he was truly sorry. Which he still wasn't, but writing the report had helped Wufei get over the horror of everyone at work knowing Trowa wanted to drag him to bed and that had definitely been worth the lie.

Trowa had never had much of a problem with lying, when it suited his purposes. Lies were such fickle things, and really depended on the viewpoint you viewed the situation from.

"Why did you name her Hatty?"

"Because it's her name." Really, that was what he wanted to pick at? Duo named the giant space colony from Hell Frank, but Wufei picked on him for calling his handicapped doppelganger Hatty? And people thought Trowa had issues!

"Would you have rathered I call her Fei?"

That got his attention, and a guttural grunt that made Trowa laugh, which hurt his chest horribly and had him wheezing, eyes watering as he tried to blink back the pain. Wufei's obvious concern only soothed a little as Trowa tried to avoid his flailing hands searching for a way to help.

"Shh, it's fine. I just shouldn't be making jokes at a time like this." Wufei calmed immediately and sat back, looking like he knew full well Trowa was deliberately placating him but unable to say anything about it because Trowa was behaving, in order to placate.

"Farrar said Harrison made you..."

"He lied."

Obviously, but it was a curious lie. It had certainly served a purpose, but like most lies it was surrounded by truths, to make it believable. Farrar had been trying to gain their trust, but he'd also helped them keep Wufei alive. He'd kept them hidden during the Chinatown search, and he'd given them the recipe for the passionflower addiction tonic. He'd had very obvious knowledge of the Origen, but he'd made that knowledge seem plausible by placing the blame for it on his brother.

And it was plausible, because Harrison had done so much. Had been responsible for a large part of the station. But just how much of it had been Harrison's handiwork, and how much of it had been Farrar? Trowa contemplated it as they caught shuttle after shuttle, being sure to avoid major routes and not to head in a straight line, for fear of being monitored and their destination discovered. But it wasn't until they were off the shuttle, standing at the platform for the military shuttle to Level 1 that Trowa figured it out.

Farrar had known about Harrison's workshop, and the Pad there, that it could access any part of Frank. That it was the only place that could. But Farrar couldn't get there himself. Harrison had been military, for a time. That was what Farrar had said, and it all finally made so much sense. Farrar had built the Pads and the Origen, and together they had built Frank, Farrar dealing with the sectors that would house civilian life, and Harrison doing the same for the military. And when it became clear the biggest threat to Frank's security was his own brother, Harrison had built his workshop and started the long process of trying to find a way to fix the mistake.

Hatty hadn't been an earlier, discarded version of Nataku. She had been an incomplete new copy, the building of which was interrupted by her maker's death. She hadn't been on that table a week when Trowa found her, weak certainly but not yet dead. Heart still beating, not for months like a lifeless programmed machine, but humanely, struggling to live another day while waiting for someone to save her.

"God, I was so stupid," he mumbled, frowning still because Hatty had still freaked out with some kind of override. Hadn't she? Why did Hatty always end up giving him more questions than answers?

"Trowa?" Wufei was at his elbow and Trowa forced himself to shake it off for the moment. He could always ask Hatty about it when they caught up to her. For now there were definitely other things to think about. Like how the hell to get to Harrison's workshop.

"Why didn't we just use the Pad in My Room?"

"It doesn't show up as active on my sensors."

"Meaning...you have sensors," Trowa noted, feeling queasy but saying nothing more about it because Wufei was glaring at him again. He waved them onto the next shuttle and was grateful when Wufei didn't question it, just followed his lead. He was still contemplating Harrison and Hatty, and what exactly Harrison had been planning to do, anyway, and it entertained his thoughts all the way to Level 1.

"Bloom! What the hell took you so long?" Trowa had never thought he would be that glad to see Giles. The old man looked worse for wear, a massive bruise on the side of his head and a bandage wrapped tight around one leg, but he hobbled over to them and spoke deliberately loudly. Trowa wasn't stupid; he went with it.

"This that expert you went to get? That SiS isn't going to move itself!"

"Sir, yes Sir. Sorry, it took me a while to find him, he was working on the computer troubles up on Level 5."

"Right. Well...hurry it up now!" Giles bustled past the men moving around them, into the locker rooms and he hurriedly shoved uniforms into their hands and a new I.D for Wufei. Trowa didn't question where it had come from, or how he'd known they would be there, he just went about getting into the uniform. At least out of the Preventers clothes he was in, since by the time he got out of those Wufei was already dressed and helping him into the SiS pilot's uniform.

His chest ached horribly and every time he raised his arm it sent a shot of agony blazing through his side and ribs. There was no time to feel it and he took deep, hissing breaths until he was dressed and he didn't complain at all when Wufei knelt down and hurriedly tied the laces on his boots. It wasn't like he wouldn't have done the same thing for Wufei, and the other man didn't even make a snide comment let alone the endless tirade of bad jokes Trowa would have let loose. Or maybe he would have leered, he would have been on his knees in front of Wufei after all...

"Stop thinking. Right now," Wufei warned and Trowa just smirked, completely not innocent.

"Let's go," Giles muttered and Trowa let him lead because he sounded darker than usual. Like bad things had happened. Obviously. Because they were on Frank, and it wasn't like he was there for sunshine and roses. He'd been shot, of course bad things had happened! But being shot had taken him back to Wufei, which he considered good, only then Wufei had taken them both straight back to Frank, which Trowa really didn't think was that great.

Life could be so weird.

Trowa was grateful they took the train around to the SiS repair bay, pretty sure he wouldn't have been able to manage the walk, and when they got there he just stood there for a minute taking in the dramatic increase in aircraft. They didn't seem to have battle damage, but men were working on them and it was obvious there was something wrong.

"Systems failing," Giles mumbled under his breath. "Some stealth issues, some refuelling problems...standard for the most part but some of the errors are too human." Sabotage. Because the military wasn't necessarily playing Farrar's game. It had been Harrison's, after all.

Trowa climbed in the SiS with Wufei in his lap, groaning at the pain of being pushed against Wufei's chest but then they were re-Molecularizing and he was just grateful his stomach was still empty as he struggled to recall how to breathe. No pain could possibly compare.

"Geez, Tro, breathe..." Hands helped him to the side and away from the Pad and Trowa looked up at Duo in relief, waving him off but Duo ignored him and led him to a chair, pushing him down into carefully. Wufei was looking around the lab, taking things in and Trowa watched him curiously. This hadn't been Wufei's birthplace as he had originally suspected, but it had to be similar. He wondered what sort of ghosts lingered in Wufei's memory and wished he could crawl inside and pick through it all, maybe erase a few things here or there. But Wufei wasn't a machine, and he was no longer convinced Hatty was either.

"Triton?" Hatty hesitated before coming out from behind the computer desk, crouching down to be at eye level with him, biting her lower lip nervously. "You're okay?"

"Sure, Hatty. I'm okay." He had a giant hole in him that was currently aching like a bitch, but by her standards he supposed he was fine. Not that Wufei would agree, but he wasn't thinking about Wufei right then, which was a change. He thought at this point, any change might be just what they needed.

"What the hell happened?" Wufei's voice pulled Trowa out of his contemplation and Trowa looked over to see him standing beside Heero, who was sprawled out on a blanket against the wall, on a drip, looking worse for wear and completely unconscious.

"He came out on the wrong side of Nataku and a wall," Duo grumbled and only the lack of fear in his voice made Trowa relax. "He'll be okay, I think, just...you should have seen it!" He actually sounded excited. Trowa and Wufei both stood there, blinking and feeling...dumb.

"Heero rolled and went for his gun and just as he came to his feet Nataku came flying at him and body slammed him into the wall! There was this massive dent in the wall and everything! And the crunch...it was so gross! And Heero was knocked out cold! Heero!"

Trowa had to admit that was pretty impressive, but he hadn't thought to ever see Duo that excited about it. Which meant Heero was going to be fine. It was at that point that even Duo seemed to realise they were confused by his reaction and he shrugged, waving a hand at Heero's body.

"He's fine, he was awake earlier and tried to get up to you know...do something."

That explained absolutely nothing at all.

"So Duo pinched a nerve and knocked him out again," Giles explained, rolling his eyes. As if it were obvious, and Trowa thought it probably would have been if he hadn't been damn near crying from the pain in his own chest.

"Quatre?"

"No idea. With Nataku, we're assuming. We came here through the Pad in Your Room, disconnected it on our way through." Duo seemed quite pleased with what they had achieved, which confused Trowa since it seemed like all he had achieved was making Yuy unconscious. Admittedly, that was an achievement.

But that explained why Wufei hadn't been able to find a signal for it on his scanners or whatever. Which still creeped him the hell out!

"Why did you come here?" He would have done the same, but he was curious about their reasons.

"Hatty brought us," Giles said softly. "We weren't sure what to do and she was adamant we come here. Heero didn't want to, he was worried she was compromised but..." Giles shrugged and smiled and Trowa just sighed because yeah, it was like that. There was something about Hatty. You could trust her.

But then, he had thought they could trust Nataku too, and that hadn't exactly turned out the way he'd planned. He really had to stop trusting people, it was a problem.

"Did I do the right thing?" She sounded so genuinely nervous and finally Trowa relaxed about her and just smiled, real and complete and like he should have from the first moment she opened her eyes.

"Yeah, Hatty. You did the right thing. You did great. This was the best place to come."

"I know." She seemed confused, and he realised she had known that it was where they should hide, but if they'd told her to go elsewhere she would have. Because she wanted to do the right thing. She was so young, in so many ways. Younger than Trowa had suspected.

"Where's Tracey?"

But the answer was already obvious, because if she wasn't with them, she was against them. With Nataku.

"Right. So no coffee then?"

It was the break from reality they all needed. Or the break back into reality, he supposed, depending on what side of the fence you stood. Giles laughed and took a seat at the computer, pulling up the schematic of the Frank and Duo quickly sat in the other free chair. Wufei stood, in the middle of the room, staring up at the large screen as if he would make them tell him where they were hiding just by glaring at it.

"They're not upstairs," Trowa confirmed and Giles blacked out that area. "And they can't access Level 1." It too disappeared from their map.

"They could be hiding somewhere in Chinatown, Farrar would know people there?" Duo suggested but he sounded uncertain. They had, after all, gotten to Harrison's lab through Chinatown, and apparently hadn't seen the enemy in their travels. That didn't mean they hadn't been there.

The problem was, they could be anywhere. They could take as many good guesses as they liked but without actually going out to see there was no way to know for sure, and they didn't have the time or personnel to do that. Trowa stared at the map, trying to think what sector he would go to, where he would take Quatre and why but he wasn't sure what Farrar's goal was in taking Quatre to begin with so he couldn't decide who he was likely to take him to.

"I know where they are."

Trowa stared at Wufei, trying to decide if he liked Wufei being wireless or if it was just another thing on a long, long list of creepy. He thought it was likely the latter, and the fact he had to think about it probably meant he was in need of pain medication. Or therapy. Or both.

"The Eye," Duo realised, following Wufei's line of sight in nodding, sounding like he felt stupid for not having realised it himself. And Trowa had to admit, it was stupid. They had a hostage, which only worked if they had a way of trading him for something they wanted. You couldn't trade if you couldn't get it off Frank, and the only way other than the Origen room was the Eye.

"Suit up, Duo."

Duo blinked but that was all, then he turned and started grabbing his weapons, strapping them in places Trowa did not want to think about while Trowa just sat there frowning. He hated when he couldn't argue about being excluded.

"Don't frown at me like that, you knew it would come to this. You can help us from here," Wufei scowled, toying with the end of his sword hilt over his shoulder and staring at the screen still as if it might tell him what they were up to in the Eye Room.

"You'll be outnumbered."

"Which means nothing while we have the advantage. Besides, it's three on three. We're not outnumbered at all."

That was assuming Quatre was awake and in a position to help them, and that Farrar hadn't enlisted a lot more help since taking his hostage. Though from what he knew of the size of the Eye Room and its surroundings, Trowa doubted he would have recruited much help, if any. Why involve people who didn't need to be involved? That just complicated a plan that was otherwise nicely uncomplicated, and Farrar wasn't an idiot.

"I'll have to go with you," Giles noted. "You'll have to go back out through the SiS bay, now that the other Pad is deactivated."

"Maybe we should consider re-activating that?" Trowa suggested. He could understand why they had done it in the first place, but he was almost certain the enemy would avoid his room at all costs, and at the end of the day they could always learn from the enemy and just shoot anyone who came through the Pad unannounced. That way he really might get to shoot Une eventually.

"We'll come back through it. Once we're out of Level 1, you come back here," Wufei instructed Giles and the man didn't dare to argue. Trowa didn't blame him. Wufei looked scary. And sexy. Scary and sexy and Trowa wanted to be anywhere but where they were so he could do much more interesting things than stare.

"Don't do anything stupid," he warned Wufei and it earned him a solid glare.

"You mean like get shot point blank?"

Right. Trowa just spun back around in his chair to face the computer, typing in a few commands and watching the screen zoom in on the path from Level 1 to the Eye and he studied the possible ways to get there. He knew how Duo and Heero had gotten in last time, and how Nataku had taken him out, but maybe Wufei knew other ways. It was hard to say what Wufei did and didn't know, since Wufei himself seemed to have no idea what he knew.

He was surprised by the gentle fingers that stroked the back of his neck, brushing lightly against the ends of his hair and then he didn't have time to be surprised because Wufei had leant down and was kissing him, harder than Trowa would have expected had he dared to expect a kiss, but still sweet and everything he wanted.

He felt immediately calm and at the same time as if his heart was going to explode out the hole in his chest. He was still sitting there, staring at nothing when the Pad fired and Giles, Duo and Wufei were gone while his lips still tingled deliciously.

"What does it feel like?" Hatty was sitting on the edge of the desk, legs swinging, eyes wide and fixed on his mouth, her own lips slightly parted and puckered. Trowa shifted uncomfortably away from her and shrugged, because he was not the person who should be having the birds and the bees talk with Hatty. Maybe if they got everything sorted out, Sally might? Or Une? No...no girl should be subjected to Une fumbling her way through that conversation.

"It feels like my heart is broken into dust, and moulded back together again and put back inside me better than it had been before."

She thought about that for a long time. Long enough for Trowa to find them on the military surveillance cameras, riding the train back to the front station. Wufei looked calm and relaxed but it was all a front, Trowa knew. He always looked like that before the storm. This was Wufei when he was dangerous. When he was relaxed he allowed himself to get angry; to yell and rant and rage. It was when he got too calm you had to worry.

"Do you think, maybe one day, someone might kiss me?" Someone. Not him.

Trowa looked at her then. Really looked. She was wearing the hat he had given her, still backwards but a little to the side where he obviously found it comfortable. She was wearing the dress he had found her but she had found tights to cover her legs, as if trying to hide her metal legs. Her skin was flawless, no freckles or scars but along the edge it darkened and disappeared into the enclosure of her metal framework. Her eyes peered out, wet and moist and watering a little, lashes thick and dark as they fluttered quickly every time she blinked.

No. No one would want to kiss her, because no one would ever truly understand her, or find her beautiful. No one would see the things he saw in her; no one would spend enough time with her to see such things. In the past he would have said no because he didn't think she would live long enough to see the end of Frank, let alone beyond that. But now...now he knew it would be no because she was too much apart from them whilst still being one of them. Her fate was the cruellest of all; to be left incomplete, her maker dead.

"Maybe," he heard himself say. "Who knows what tomorrow might bring, right?"

She stared at him a long time, and he held his breath while she did. And then she blinked and smiled, looking away and his chest ached in places no bullet had touched.

"Maybe."


	27. Chapter 27

27:

Somehow, seeing Wufei as a little pacman-esque figure on a screen dashing down one corridor and then another made it easier. Not being there, at his side where he was supposed to be, making sure the man didn't do anything stupid. Like decapitate him, since that's what would likely happen if he was stupid enough to stand beside Wufei while he had a sword drawn and started swinging. Not that Wufei often swung his sword, he was more of a stabby kind of guy... Trowa sighed for what felt like the thousandth time, and wished yet again that Frank was just a wee bit smaller, and didn't take so damn long to get around. He'd grown accustomed to his instant transportation, thank you very much.

They looked strangely good together, Wufei and Duo. They moved similarly, like cats. All grace and stealth while Trowa and Heero preferred to just walk in and see what happened. Duo and Wufei were sneaky, and it occurred to Trowa only now, after all those years of sitting at Preventers cafeteria tables together, that Duo and Wufei got along. That they had been friends, not just because their group mingled together, but because they had things in common. Not what they liked, because Duo had no interest at all in the Art of War as a book when he could practise it in reality, and Wufei had no interest in practical jokes outside of their use between pages to entertain him quietly, but in the way they liked to do things. They were similar.

Trowa wasn't sure he liked that. Did that mean he was attracted to part of Duo? Because that was downright creepy. He looked over at Heero just to make sure he was unconscious, lest his body language give something away and Heero decide to take offence to Trowa perhaps finding Duo's toenails endearing. Heero was still blissfully out of it.

"Triton?"

"My name's Trowa, Hatty. Call me Trowa?"

"But he calls you that."

Confused, Trowa looked up at her and saw her staring at Wufei-pacman on the screen and he sighed, wondering if they were ever going to get along. He hoped so, but it would ultimately be Hatty's decision. Or, he supposed Wufei might have a problem with her, Trowa hadn't really thought to ask. Hey Wufei, do you have a problem with the half robot girl they made out of your cloned body parts? It was likely. And unlikely he would ask, or that Wufei would give him any other answer than a punch in the face. Which was probably why he hadn't asked.

"He has a name, too."

"He's the Origen."

"No, he's Wufei." And it hurt that she apparently refused to acknowledge it. Or maybe she didn't see a difference. To her, Wufei had always been the Origen.

"Wufei is the Origen," Hatty corrected, turning away from the screen to look at Trowa. It felt like she was trying hard to make him understand something she wasn't sure how to express with words and the struggle was so human it hurt. In that place Trowa was starting to understand only Hatty could make hurt. Because she was the only one like Her.

"Is it important to you? That Wufei is the Origen?" It seemed to be?

But she was quiet, still just staring at him and Trowa realised after a while that he was being weighed. That she was judging him, for once, instead of the other way around, and he had no idea if he would be found wanting. She didn't trust him with something, and that niggling fear that sat somewhere in the giant hole in his chest told him that meant he couldn't trust her.

"It's why I'm here," she said at last, turning again to look at Wufei-pacman. They were still sneaking through the corridors, but getting closer and closer. About an hour away by Trowa's guess.

"You're here because Wufei is the Origen?" What did that _mean? _What question did he need to ask to get her to tell him the answer? Was there a specific one? Was there a password? Why had Harrison built her? Was she really the key to stopping Farrar, or had she just been a pawn in an otherwise much larger plan? Why had Harrison been smart enough to think of a plan to stop his brother but dumb enough to fall prey to Wufei-Frank's plan to do him in?

"Yes."

Trowa sighed and slumped back in his chair, wincing at the pain that bloomed through his chest at the contact, holding his breath until it subsided. He was getting used to it, and knew that was a bad thing. He needed to feel the pain. Needed to stay awake and aware and _feel_ it. Needed to remember he was injured so he didn't go do something equally stupid, like getting shot again. Maybe in the head this time.

"We're not going to be able to use the SiS many more times without people getting suspicious. I just got bellowed at by my superiors for taking so much time to work on our SiS when others were fixable and waiting for attention." Giles came to sit in the other chair, looking up at the screen and frowning.

"Kind of reminds me of pacman, that old arcade game?"

"You don't say," Trowa laughed but shook his head when Giles looked at him questioningly. Great minds and all that.

"Hatty, what are you doing?" Giles was staring at her where she was crouching over Heero, staring closely at his face. She looked up at the question, her expression stumped.

"I'm watching him sleep?" Duh.

"_Why?" _Trowa had to admit it was a valid question. He wished Heero would wake up right now and freak out, only he suspected Hatty would be more likely to be strangled than Heero squeak like a girl. Still, he could dream.

"Because Triton likes to sleep with the Origen. I don't understand why. He can't even tell I'm here." The perplexities of being a half robot girl in love. Trowa couldn't actually sympathise. At all. Not being female, and not being part robot anything.

"I like to sleep with him because I love him. I like knowing he's there, and knowing that he's safe."

"How do you know that if you're asleep?"

"Because he was there when I went to sleep and if he got up to move, I would know and wake up. So, as long as I'm still asleep I know he's there and that he's safe."

She was doing that staring thing again and he decided to accept the challenge, staring straight back at her because he'd given her an honest answer and she should learn some manners and give him an honest one back. Only she was a robot and didn't understand honesty and instead he just felt stupid trying to stare down a robot.

"Points for trying," Giles mumbled at his side and Trowa laughed softly, blinking and turning in his chair, aware of Hatty going back to staring closely at Heero's sleeping face and having no desire whatsoever to stop her.

Wufei pac-man had made it halfway to the Eye and Trowa didn't envy the way they were crawling over things in the walls at all. He rubbed his chest at the thought of it, and cursed himself not for the first time because how dumb did you have to be to get shot point blank by a robot anyway? Not that Nataku was really a robot, more a half-half sort of thing, but he doubted Duo was going to let him live it down just because part of the brain was built instead of born.

"What are you going to do, when this is all over?"

It was not a question Trowa had given specific thought to. More a blanket 'take Wufei home and tie him to the bed' fantasy sort of thing. But having Giles ask him, of all people, made him pause and actually think about it. _Allow_ himself to believe it was a possibility, and that it would be soon.

"Go home." Only it lacked something, his home, and he didn't think it was Wufei. Not anymore, because the thought of taking Wufei back to his little apartment really wasn't that appealing, and Wufei's apartment was so much worse! That was, if he even still had one. Trowa had assumed he'd gotten rid of it when he took his new job, but since he never actually chose to do either did that mean he was still renting? Had they gutted it when Wufei didn't pay his rent? _Had_ Wufei ben paying rent all this time? Maybe it was set to direct debit and just...

"I didn't mean to make you think that hard," Giles mumbled, looking embarrassed and Trowa just sighed. He hadn't been thinking hard, not really. That was the point. He was just distracting himself from the very real fact that home was starting to mean something else. That maybe it wasn't just starting but that it had been that way for longer than he cared to realise. That maybe the reason he kept petitioning his landlord for things he knew they wouldn't grant wasn't because he wanted to try, but because he'd given up trying. Because he'd wanted Wufei, and when he couldn't have it he'd tried for every consolation prize he could think of and it hadn't been enough.

"I'll go wherever he goes." And he didn't care that Giles was smiling, nor what Giles was thinking or felt about it because it was none of the man's business. Trowa would go with Wufei, because that was where Home was, and had been for a long time now.

"What about me?"

Giles and Trowa both turned to see Hatty standing between them, ignoring the screen altogether, much more interested in their discussion. Which shouldn't have been the case. Robots were not supposed to think about the future, or worse...have dreams for it.

"What would you like to do?" Giles asked her, genuinely curious and Trowa would have gladly smacked the man had he not been vaguely interested in the answer himself.

She was staring again. It was really starting to grate on Trowa's nerves. He stared back, waiting and determined to outlast her this time. His nerves felt ready to snap when she just kept staring into his face and slowly his lips moved and she smiled, wide and open mouthed and delighted, all teeth and tongue and was that a speaker in the back of her throat?

"I want to stay with Triton."

Of course she did. Trowa slumped back in his chair and decided having staring matches with a robot was a stupid idea. It didn't need to breathe.

"And do what?"

It was the pauses, Trowa decided, not the staring, that gave it the effect that unnerved him. When she was staring at you, you could still dream up strange things in your head that might be going on in hers. But when she was silent, there was a weight to her gaze that meant she wasn't just trying to find an answer. She was trying to decide which one to give you. If she was a robot, there should have only been one answer, and she shouldn't have been capable of any kind of deceit.

But she wasn't a robot. Not really, that was the point.

"Watch him sleep," was what she finally said, smiling brightly again and skipping back to Heero's side, crouching down and doing just that. It left Giles and Trowa staring at each other, not sure what to think of it. If maybe they should stop trying to understand, because Hatty was just ever so slightly insane.

"I'm so glad she met you first."

It made Trowa pause, because he hadn't stopped to wonder if perhaps her attachment to him was simply that he'd been the one to turn her on. That after Harrison, he was the closest thing she had to family, or a friend, or whatever. That he was the only one who had cared, at least from her perspective, enough to give her life. That he was sort of like her father.

And he was now so officially creeped out that he just glared at Giles and stroked the knife strapped to his thigh.

"Even if I can't outrun you, I can still throw this."

"Son, you stopped scaring me the moment you told me the Origin was your dreamboy."

"What?" Because of all the things that might have made him seem more human, that was the last thing Trowa would have thought of. And yet, he supposed, he wasn't like most people, and maybe love to most people was the most human trait there was. He looked at Hatty and really hoped that wasn't true. But if it wasn't, and something else was, there was still a good chance she at least thought she had it. Dreams, check. Love, check. Hope...

"You forget I moved to a giant invisible space station to escape war. Knives and threats don't scare me. Gory half-built robot girls? Yeah, they're a tad on the awkward side, but as long as they're professing love for you and not me, it's still not that bad. But if a person cannot love..."

_That_ was scary? Trowa decided Giles was stupid, and just hadn't seen Heero Yuy wake up on the wrong side of the bed.

"Hatty, did you spend a lot of time with Harrison?"

"All of my time!" She sounded immediately excited and he wasn't at all surprised when she started humming happily under her breath. She was fiddling with the ends of Heero's hair, frowning occasionally and taking a closer look, forcing her fingers to be increasingly dexterous and, he realised, learning to braid. Duo wasn't going to know what to do with himself.

"Did you talk about things?"

"Yes! Lots and lots of things!"

"Did you talk about Frank?" Giles, who had seemed uninterested in Trowa's line of questioning sat up at this and looked not at Hatty, but at Trowa, and something in his expression told him to stay quiet. That Trowa was trying to find answers to things Giles hadn't known they needed to ask.

"All the time! It was like his baby or something." Jealousy. That was definitely jealousy colouring her tone of voice and making her frown, just slightly. Because Frank hadn't been his baby, just his greatest invention. Hatty on the other hand...

"Hatty, how old are you?"

"I don't understand the question," she confessed, frowning.

"When were you switched on?" She was still frowning, turning away from Heero's hair and looking at him now. Again. In _that_ way.

"How old are you?" She asked and Trowa frowned, shrugging carefully, still dubious as to where this was even going. She sighed, as if having to deal with someone very stupid. "You measure life by years, one of which is the rotation of Earth around the sun. But what if there isn't a sun, and you're just in a Frank, exploring the universe. Should you still measure time as you would have on earth? Or by the time periods used in the area of space you happen to be in? Or by the time periods used by Frank?"

Okay. Not as in depth as he had been hoping to go. Trowa looked to Giles for help because now he'd had it pointed out to him he wasn't entirely sure how time _was _measured on board.

"We use Earth time," he replied easily, rolling his eyes and Trowa had to admit it was almost like Hatty was just stalling. Or making fun of them. Whatever she was doing, it was weird.

"And do you remember every day of earth time you've been alive?"

Trowa blinked, reaching up to tuck his hair behind his ear so he could see her properly, with both eyes. No one remembered the first year or two of life, but they still lived it.

"My first memory is six months old," Hatty confirmed, as if he'd actually asked a question. But she was thinking, worrying her lower lip between her teeth, as if straining to recall something from before that time.

"My nanoboard pre-dates that time, and age testing confirms my heart is at least a year old, so I would suspect my brain and other organs are the same. But I don't remember anything from then. Does that mean I was not alive before that time, and if it does then does that mean that you were not alive before the first thing you can remember?"

Giles and Trowa turned around in their chairs at the same time, rested their elbows on the table and let their heads fall into their hands.

"Good thing the robot knows how to love," Trowa grumbled. "Wouldn't want it to be scary or anything!" How did she even know how old her organs were? Was it in a database somewhere? Had Harrison told her? As for the nanoboard...he just didn't want to know.

"And then, I've been switched on and off in between that time, so does that mean I've died and come back to life each time? So then really, I'm only as old as the time you've been here, right? Or do those days count, when I was sleeping?" She was pacing now, walking up and down the length of the room and Trowa just let her go, listening to her mumble and muse about the prospect of her age, of all things. Ponder life, its meaning and what it meant to breathe. Human ponderings, and that was the answer he had needed, really.

Because she had been sleeping, while her nanoboard was switched off. Still breathing, heart still beating, but not conscious. Right? Not conscious in the way Wufei had not been conscious in Frank? Meaning completely so?

"Did Harrison tell you why he made you?"

"Of course." Right, because it would be stupid to make her and not tell her why. And Harrison wasn't stupid. She was humming again and he was pretty sure it was Vader's March, which was just plain creepy.

"And?"

"And he told me, not you," she grinned, thrilled with her own answer and laughing as she stopped pacing and came back to the table, looking up at the screen and frowning, reaching out to poke the Wufei-pacman on the screen.

"What are you doing?"

"He can't hear you..." Only Trowa paused and looked up at her, saw the set of her jaw and the lights blinking under her skin and his heart sank a little. "Yes you can."

All this time, watching him on the screen, and he could have been talking to Wufei the whole time. Through Hatty. Worse, she could have been, and most likely was. What were they talking about? What was really going on? He wanted answers and every time he seemed close to getting one he just got handed a notebook of new questions.

"Wufei?"

"Yes?" Was it really Wufei? He couldn't quite believe it when it was Hatty's voice, the sound coming from her throat, but he kept remembering Wufei tracking their way here, using sensors and he was really starting to wonder what the inside of Wufei actually looked like now.

"What are you doing?"

Because Hatty was right, and it just looked downright strange. He and Duo had stopped in what appeared to be an access shaft above a corridor. The only reason Trowa knew that was because he could see their feet dangling down from the top of the camera frame, where they disappeared into the ceiling.

"We're arranging a surprise."

"Are you absolutely sure he loves you back?" Giles muttered and Hatty laughed. It made them both pause, frowning at her until she stopped and shrugged, and it was impossible to tell if it had been Hatty or Wufei laughing.

"What do you mean arranging?" There weren't a lot of things you could arrange in an access shaft. Unless, of course, you had the ability to access other things from it. Which was why Trowa was clutching so hard to the arms of his chair. He didn't trust himself to let go.

There wasn't a reply and Trowa sat forward, glaring at the screen as Duo hopped down out of the panel and kept an eye out for anyone who might carelessly interrupt. Only being able to see Wufei's feet dangling down beside Duo's head wasn't doing anything to improve Trowa's mood. His imagination was well able to picture Wufei hanging from Frank's rafters, so to speak.

"Stop worrying."

"Oh sure, because that always works," Giles laughed, rubbing a weary hand over his face and just sitting back to watch the screen, because there wasn't a whole let else they could do. Trowa rubbed at the bottom of his bandage through his shirt and scowled, because if Nataku hadn't shot him... But she had. She'd betrayed him and he couldn't even get revenge. At least, not yet.

And he realised he wanted it. Yes, he wanted to take Wufei home and make sure he lived a long, happy life, but he also wanted to pay back all the pain he had felt the last few years. A thousand fold or more.

"Hatty. Triton is upset."

Hatty paused only a moment longer before blinking and turning to look down at Trowa, eyes widening and face looking immediately concerned.

"Triton? Are you okay? What's wrong?"

Besides her hijacking his boyfriend? Oh, nothing! He scowled at her but only succeeded in making her look more distraught and he regretted it immediately. She looked about to cry and then... Trowa just sat there, gaping at her.

"Are you _crying?_" Holy shit!

Giles stretched around to see it for himself and they both sat there, gaping while Hatty blubbered and scrubbed at her eyes in confusion, only crying harder because she didn't seem to understand what was going on.

"Hatty, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. It's okay. I'm not mad. I'm just worried about Wufei, but I promise I'm not mad at you."

It still took time for her to settle down, hiccupping and looking pathetic until Trowa gave in and moved his chair back away from the table and turned invitingly. Hatty stared at his lap, then back at his face and smiled.

"You're not mad at me?"

"No, Hatty." He felt a lot of things when he thought about her, but anger wasn't generally among them. Not at her, anyway. She took no further nudging, hopping closer and plonking herself unceremoniously in his lap, arms thrown around his shoulders, head laid in just under his jaw. He sighed and resigned himself to the horrible ache in his chest, aware she had somehow managed to avoid putting any weight against the wound and grateful for the small mercy.

"Hatty. Wufei is plugged into the System, isn't he?"

"Yes." But she seemed confused as to how he knew it and Trowa just smiled. He knew Wufei, but she didn't know anyone well enough to understand that kind of awareness of the actions of others. She wasn't old enough, and the only person who might have come close was dead.

"Why?"

But she didn't reply and the screen suddenly went black. Sitting up so fast he nearly dropped her on the floor, Trowa hissed and let her steady him while his chest protested the movement and Giles flicked through the displays, frowning because they were all dark.

"He couldn't have cut every feed..."

He could have, but he hadn't. Trowa shook his head and switched back to the feed of the hallway on the main screen, listening to the screams and cries coming out of the feeds from the other screens.

"Not the feed. The lights. He cut the lights." But why was a mystery, though Trowa had to admit he preferred working in the dark, and it definitely wasn't something Farrar would have been expecting. But the real question was did Wufei do it because there was something he didn't want them to see.

"Why doesn't Frank just turn them back on?"

"Because he can't," Trowa noted softly. Or wouldn't. He frowned, staring at the darkness and imagining Wufei and Duo moving through it. There were so many things nagging at him, while others were just starting to make sense.

Wufei had known Farrar by name, but he hadn't said anything when the man stood before him in the flesh while they hid in the temple. Trowa was certain they'd said the man's name numerous times, but Wufei hadn't reacted. Why?

Frank had made an elaborate plan that would lure in Quatre, but which also alerted Preventers who had immediately called in the agents with the appropriate skillset, Duo and Trowa. The mission brief had practically screamed their names it was so specific. Why?

Frank had created a means to get Wufei out of the system, creating Nataku to take his place, knowing full well Nataku wasn't enough to last and that Wufei would likely have to be replaced. Why?

Harrison had built Hatty... But even she hadn't been able to replace Wufei, so why build her? She was the mysterious key to everything but nothing about her made sense. Was she just imcomplete? Was it the plans that were important? Were they for Wufei or Hatty? Why had she started broadcasting them the way she had?

Why had Nataku shot him?

So many questions and finally the answer was forming, it just wasn't one Trowa wanted to consider. Wasn't one he had wanted to believe. He got up carefully, putting Hatty down in the chair and checking his weapons. He grabbed a tablet from the stash of devices still in Heero's bag and handed it to Hatty.

"Link this up to you and the computer here."

She didn't question him, happy to do anything to help him, and he had to wonder about that too. But he busied himself checking he had what he needed in his backpack, which was hard when he wasn't really sure what he was going to need.

"Son, you look like you're getting ready to do something stupid."

"That's very observant of you," Trowa rolled his eyes. Of course he was going to do something stupid. He had a hole in his chest and he gotten back on a Pad first chance he got and went straight back in to Frank to finish the job he was well within his rights to hand over to someone else. Everything he'd done lately could be classified as 'stupid', but then people in love were supposed to do stupid things, so he thought he was probably okay.

"All done, Triton!" Hatty handed over the tablet proudly and Trowa checked the access even though he knew it would be flawless. He grabbed the pile of plans from his bag and handed them to Giles.

"Get everything you need to make these adjustments. Pretend you have no base to work with. You need _everything_ to be made from scratch."

"Alright." And Trowa was just grateful Giles didn't ask who they were upgrading. It was time to stop waiting for everyone else to make a move and do something about it himself. If everyone else was going to keep secrets, he was going to do the same.

"DUO!" Heero lurched into a sitting position and reached out to grab someone who wasn't there, glaring at his empty hand and hurriedly looking around the room.

"Barton. What the fuck are you doing here?" Heero was already pushing himself up, taking stock of himself and moving to see what Giles was up to, surveying the sheets Trowa had handed over.

"You're just in time to go help your friend do something stupid," Giles smiled at Heero and Trowa thought the man really might be insane. He'd lost his family, after all, that scrambled most people, right?

"Again?" Heero was glaring at him and Trowa wished people would stop assuming he'd gotten shot on purpose. Only that wasn't what Heero was referring to.

"Yes, again." Because while he wasn't planning on rushing off to kidnap and possibly murder a few hundred people, he might have if there had been people worth kidnapping or killing.

"Okay." And it really was that simple with Heero. He moved quickly and collected his own small stash of weapons, hiding them in what Trowa considered very uncreative places but whatever worked for him, Trowa wasn't complaining.

"Where's Duo?"

"With Wufei," Trowa grumbled and Heero barely skipped a beat, grabbing an extra gun and putting it in the bag. Trowa didn't think it was for shooting Duo, but he thought Maxwell was going to have some talking to do anyway. Though really, Heero deserved a few punches after the amount of times he'd done the same thing to Duo.

"You're bleeding," Heero grunted and Trowa looked down, startled to realise he must have broken his stitches while Hatty was in his lap, the blood leaking through the bandages and if Wufei saw it he was going to be in so much trouble.

"Triton, are you okay?" Hatty was in front of him immediately, hands fluttering in strange patterns while she tried to decide what to do with them without actually touching him.

"I'm fine, Hatty."

"Because people with massive holes blown in their chests are always fine," Giles muttered and even Heero grunted in amusement. Trowa ignored them both and let Hatty hurriedly undress him, taking off his shirt and Heero reached in to help, getting the old bandage off and assessing the damage."

"We don't have time for this," Trowa muttered darkly, looking around while Heero searched for thread and needle. He grabbed a stapler off Harrison's desk before anyone could do anything and stapled the wound with three good hits.

It was quite possibly one of the ten dumbest things he'd ever done, and it hurt like hell.

"Fuck, Barton!"

"Oh like you can talk Mr I like to reset other people's bones. You're just disappointed you didn't get to stitch me back up yourself!"

"I can do it later..." Trowa paused and looked at Heero but that didn't look or sound like it had been a joke and he just shuddered, letting Hatty re-bandage him and help him get back into a shirt. A nice clean, unbloody shirt that Wufei wouldn't take one look at and try to send him back to Une.

Heero followed him to the Pad and looked over his shoulder as Trowa punched in his instructions to the tablet, checking that Hatty had received the instructions.

They re-Molecularized in the Hanger, lights out and people running, yelling, shouting orders, torch beams spraying in every direction. Complete chaos and Trowa just grinned because that suit him just fine.

"What are we doing, Barton?"

"Saving Wufei."

"Funny. I thought that was what we'd been doing this whole time?"

"We've been trying to stop Frank," Trowa corrected and Heero followed him as he turned on the tablet light and let it guide them through the Hangers. He had a good idea of where they were, and it wouldn't take too long to get back to his SiS. With any luck the rest of his crew would be out of the Hanger trying to help get the power back on.

"And that's not the same thing?" Trowa just smiled because Heero had never been slow.

"Wufei knows how to stop Frank." But it wasn't Frank Wufei was trying to stop, it was Farrar. All along, from the moment they had received the communication from Frank with its three instructions, Wufei and Frank had been working together, as one, to stop Farrar.

He remembered his first few hours in Frank, wandering the station and wondering what the hell he was going to do. What he was supposed to do. The confusion had lingered all day, until he went back to His Room and found many of his questions had been taken care of by Frank. He had money, a job, an I.D. All the things he had needed to survive in Frank. Why?

He'd asked, and he hadn't listened.

"_Why am I here?" _

"_I want you to save someone." _


	28. Chapter 28

Palace of justice 28

"Where are we going?"

"First? To get you a SiS."

Heero was quiet for a minute, apparently just letting that idea sink in and then he was smirking, nodding in agreement.

"I like that plan." Naturally, because Trowa was quite sure Heero had been jealous of Trowa having a SiS from the moment he got on board Frank and realised Trowa had access to the best new toy. Had their positions been reversed, Trowa would have found an excuse by now to have his own new, shiny toy, but Heero was obedient like that.

They went to Trowa's hanger, and Trowa pretended that Heero was a fellow pilot coming to check on the new kids question while the real mechanics were all busy. He used his simulator to hack into the defence personnel database and duplicated his account, inputting Heero's data and finding a free SiS. There was only one, but that was fine. He would give Giles the honour of being the one who had finally fixed it. It would also give them a better excuse for always being around the damn thing. Trowa suspected it had originally been assigned to Harrison, or that the man had at least broken it on purpose and assigned himself to its repair.

"You know, it's almost like the people here like you," Heero observed and Trowa just glared at him, mostly because it was true. He'd always been good at infiltration but this was different. It felt different. He'd put some part of himself into this that he usually kept separate and while he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, it was still there in the back of his mind that he'd done it. He'd tried to make this home, and in some way it had worked. Maybe it was because Wufei was there, he couldn't really say for sure, but there was more to it than that as well. He liked it here.

He liked Frank, and Nataku even if she had shot him, and while he doubted he would ever admit to it he liked Hatty. Unless she cried while begging him, then he would probably say he did. But pretend he didn't so if Heero or Duo ever heard about it he could claim insanity, or something like it.

"Can't fault their taste," Trowa finally mumbled, because there was no way Heero would have made friends had he been the one Frank invited in.

"No," Heero agreed distractedly and it made Trowa pause though he didn't look up because there s something in the way Heero said it, as if he suspected something. Which was weird, since Trowa wasn't thinking or planning anything all that outside the box. There wasn't anything he was keeping from Heero either, so he wasn't sure what Heero was trying to imply. Or not imply.

"Okay we're good to go. Here's your codes and identification key," he spun the screen to show Heero and watched him quickly memorise the information and then he was off and Trowa left him to it, preparing his own fighter and putting in a request to deploy. For once he wasn't at all surprised when the request was immediately granted. Even if Frank had somehow gotten access to Level 1, Trowa no longer thought he was the threat they had been treating him as. The threat wasn't the machine at all.

Which was what Wufei had been trying to tell him all along, without actually telling him anything. Because Wufei was compromised and could give nothing away. Ironically, it had been Nataku who had revealed what should have been obvious from the start.

Wireless. Of all the stupid things to have ignored. Just because they had removed Wufei from the capsule, didn't mean they had disconnected him. Sure he wasn't functioning at full charge but he was still functioning, just like Nataku and Hatty, his movements being tracked by Frank, and able to be downloaded by anyone with the knowledge to do so.

Wufei had known, and had struggled since waking not to tell them anything, to only write things down if he thought they were important, or to give them clues in riddles, but never actually telling them the game plan.

All this time, Wufei had still been connected to Frank. It hurt, in too many ways to consider. All this time he'd been trying to stop Frank, when he should have been trying to find a way to save Wufei. Because whatever plan he and Frank had devised, Wufei wasn't going to see the end of.

He stared at his reflection in the SiS screens and wondered why none of the anger he felt under his skin was there in his visage. How was the reflection so calm, the features so still, when under the surface a typhoon brewed.

The permission to launch came through and he pulled harder on the controls than he had intended, connecting hurriedly to the systems and letting out his breath before launching.

It didn't help the pain. It tore through his chest and he sucked at the air, trying to force his lungs to move when they wanted to be still. He looked down and was relieved to see no blood, but continued to stare at his chest, head down and body aching. He needed rest, but refused to take it. He could rest when the job was done, plain and simple.

It would take Heero a while to install the spare communications module he'd made back when he first installed it in his own SiS, making a backup in case the original had failed or malfunctioned. So Trowa went for a short joyride, moving quickly between the other deployed SiS and seeing the pattern, approving. Individually they might not have been good soldiers, but their commands were good. Their advance was stable.

Preventers was just as good, but that wasn't surprising when you knew who was leading the flotilla. Noin was likely in there somewhere, following Une's orders and really, who knew what tricks that woman had up her sleeve. Trowa had made it his business to avoid both women as often as possible. He had to see Une when he was called in for work, but Noin he had no reason to see at all.

"Bloom?"

"Glad you could make it. Sending you through some coordinates now." Trowa sent through coordinates close to his own, making sure they were as specific as he could make them before taking out his tablet and sending through a link to Hatty.

"Triton?"

"Hello Hatty. How is Giles going?" Because while he hadn't been gone long, Giles was a bit of an overachiever, especially when building things was involved. Trowa had a good idea of what the workshop floor currently looked like, but he didn't think it would hurt to double check.

"He's collecting all these parts and letting me put them together using the instruction manual! It's very fun!" He just bet it was, and it was ironic that Giles seemed to be coming to the same conclusions as Trowa. That they had been ignoring their biggest ally and asset. They'd had Hatty help them build things before, but mainly just holding things in place for them while the welded or soldered. They could have just left her with it overnight and had things ready by morning. So much time wasted, because they hadn't thought about what she was. Or they had, and they'd thought the wrong thing.

"That's great, Hatty. I'm glad you're having fun. Does he know how long it will take him to get all the parts built?" Because if anything was going to screw them over, it was going to be time.

"He says he found some of the parts already assembled on one of the shelves. He needs to check they work, but if they do it should only take a day at most to make the rest, as long as I help. Isn't that great? I can help!"

"Yes Hatty. That's fantastic." Not amazing, because he didn't want her to realise she hadn't been helping before because they had thought her incapable of it. He didn't want to insult her; she deserved better, and now he knew he was going to give it to her.

She started humming, leaving the link active, which made Trowa smile as he listened and waited for Heero's cloaked SiS to arrive. He wasn't at all surprised when it took a little longer than it should have to get there, knowing full well Heero would have taken it for a lap under the guise of inspecting the outer shell of Frank for himself, but really just to see how it flew.

Perfectly. Because like the rest of Frank, the SiS were flawless. If Farrar had destroyed boundaries of technology with his creation of the Pads, Harrison had not been outdone. He'd annihilated the field with the creation of SiS, completely biological integrated mind mapping, in a fighter. The zero system had tried to do the same, but would never achieved this sort of finesse for the everyday pilot. The SiS was a beautiful piece of engineering, and Trowa could feel the pride that had gone into its creation every time he accessed a new system and found it as smooth and easy going as the rest of the components. Harrison had loved this machine, more than he had loved Nataku or Hatty, and that was saying something.

"So?" The question was hilariously clear in Heero's voice, and Trowa deliberately ignored it.

"So." it felt stupidly good to be poking at Heero Yuy again. He just wasn't as fun unconscious in the corner, though Trowa could admit he wished he'd had the chance to out him there. Sometimes Duo got all the fun.

"Barton."

Yes, Heero, that's my name! Trowa just rolled his eyes where no one could see and checked his math one more time to give Heero a few more minutes to sweat before giving in to the demand.

"Farrar is going to move Quatre."

"How do you know that?" he sounded sceptical and it just annoyed Trowa. Was it really that hard to just listen, trust, and do as you were told?

"Because it's what I would do." And of all of them, Trowa was the one who enjoyed pretending to be the bad guy. Who usually became the bad guy to get the job done. So Heero was just going to have to suck it up and believe him.

"Alright." Thank you. "So what are we doing here?"

"I am directly in the line of the Eye's laser. I'm going to get Hatty to make Frank adjust the length of the laser so it stops here."

"So they will remolecularize in your SiS?" He sounded as dubious as Trowa had expected him to.

"Our SiS," Trowa corrected. "I'll have Hatty split the laser beam as well, delivering one packet of information to each SiS." He was almost certain it was possible, though he hadn't actually stopped to ask.

"No offence, Barton, but I don't feel like becoming one with Farrar anytime soon." Not least of all because Duo would be very unlikely to sleep with him afterward.

"That's good. We will be demolecularized at the same time they are sent here."

"Funny how you didn't mention that before." Trowa couldn't blame the man for the hint of queasiness in his voice. The molecularizations inside Frank were bad, but they didn't compare at all to those from the Eye. Trowa suspected it had something to do with the power required to create a link over such huge distances. Earth still looked very small in his rear screens.

"We will molecularize in the Eye room."

"While Farrar escapes in a SiS? Barton, that is not a plan!" He sounded furious and Trowa just sighed, wishing people would let him dramatically divulge his whole plan before leaping to all sorts of conclusions.

"Farrar won't be going. He needs someone he can trust on Frank."

"And you don't think he can trust Nataku? You do remember she shot you?"

"Pretty hard to forget that," Trowa muttered darkly, resisting the urge to rub his chest because it would only make it hurt more. "If he leaves her here he runs the risk of Hatty reaching her."

"Hatty." The pause was significant. "When we are done you are going to have some explaining to do, Barton."

Of that he was very much aware, but for now he just needed everyone to do as they were told. He just hoped Wufei really did know what he was doing, and that he could get it done with Duo.

"So Nataku and Quatre will transfer to the SiS, and we will go to the Eye."

"That's the plan." And he didn't need Heero to tell him to know it was a pretty cool one. Quatre was going to have to learn to hold his own in a SiS pretty quickly, but he had experience with Zero and compared to that the SiS were a dream, so Trowa thought he would do fine. But just in case...

"Lock your SiS controls with the code." They all knew the code, the number they had all agreed to use whenever they were on a mission and needed to lock something. They were the only ones who knew it, and they had never written it down or spoken it aloud after it was agreed on, so it was safe, even from Une.

"Way ahead of you." As if, he hadn't even known what the plan was a minute ago but Trowa didn't bother arguing, using the time to lock his own system and then focussing on his tablet and the soft humming coming from it.

"Did you hear all that, Hatty?"

"I did. I've already connected to Frank and he's being much nicer to me than he used to be!" Trowa just bet he was, now that they all knew they were on the same side. But also because Hatty could do things now she hadn't been able to before. Everything she did made her that much smarter and soon Frank knew he was going to have a serious problem if he wasn't on her side.

"Can you do what we need?"

"For you I can. It's a very strange system but Frank helped me download the controls and I think I have it all figured out now."

He hoped she did, because the last thing he wanted was to be melded with Nataku. He just knew Wufei would have a problem with that, considering how angry he got at a simple gunshot wound.

"Triton, are you ready?"

That was the only warning he got before the Eye started to open and he braced himself, taking deep, slow breaths because this was going to hurt and that sucked. A lot.

Like a whole hell of a lot. The white light was nice, but as it blinded the burning started, somewhere deep in his chest and he could hear Quatre cursing somewhere nearby but then the light was slipping away and the pain felt like it ate him from the inside out, flaring in all directions until it was all he knew.

Then he threw up, and he thought that might have hurt even more.

"What have you done?"

He looked up, into the barrel of a gun and sighed because Wufei was going to kill him. Farrar looked furious and it occurred to Trowa that Wufei wasn't going to get the chance to be pissed because the ammunition, whatever the hell that glowing blue capsule was, had already slid into the barrel and the safety wasn't on. Farrar's finger was already pulling the trigger, because the question was rhetorical. It didn't matter what Trowa had done, it could be undone if Farrar acted fast enough and apparently he knew it.

Something moved in the shadows around the lantern Farrar had been using in the darkness just as Farrar finished pulling the trigger. The blue liquid exploded against the wall behind Trowa's head and the wall started melting, hissing and sizzling, leaving Trowa feeling queasy and relieved where he struggled to think past the pain in his chest. Something had shoved him out of the way, and it wasn't Heero, because he was still struggling to breathe a few metres away.

Heavy black boots spun to face him and angrily stomped by his head, and then Wufei's furious face was in his even as one of those stomping boots slammed down across Farrar's throat and pinned him there while Farrar struggled.

"Are you insane?" Wufei demanded, and Trowa felt the sting of the man's palm on his cheek. It just made him grin because Wufei was so pissed. So very, very pissed and afraid and in love with him.

"I hoped you'd be here."

"Hoped? You hoped? You should have been doing a fuckload more than hoping you fucking moron!"

"I'd lecture you, but he's doing such a damn good job of it, it would be rude to interrupt," Duo mused, stepping into view behind Wufei and leaning down to tie Farrar's hands behind his back.

Heero managed to find his feet and helped Duo get Farrar up and against a wall that wasn't melting, but Wufei ignored them both in favour of hauling Trowa into a sitting position and continuing his tirade while Trowa just smirked at him.

"Do not just sit there grinning at me!" Wufei finally raged, reaching out to bury his hands in Trowa's shirt and haul him forward. Gasping in pain, Trowa made to protest but Wufei's mouth closed over his own and any thought of protest flew out of his head.

Warm and somehow spicy. Wufei. Kissing him. Trowa floated in a bubble of his own imagination and the rest of the world disappeared, leaving him whole and free.

But the lips slipped away and the pain slipped back in. Trowa groaned and let Wufei get him back on his feet, leaning gratefully against his shoulder while Wufei's free hand searched for any new injuries. Like the hole in his chest wasn't enough to warrant his complaining.

"I'm fine. Just give me a minute to catch my breath." And he would have happily kissed Wufei again, even if the man hadn't given him his minute.

"What have you done?" Farrar demanded and it just made Trowa sigh because why did they always expect you to explain how screwed they were?

"Oh, sweetness, I'm sorry," Duo pouted a little, but the grin behind it was clear. "We not kiss and tell." Then he leaned closer to Heero and stage whispered. "What have you done?"

Heero seemed relieved to be in a position of power again, even if it was just over his lover and the enemy.

Trowa got his tablet out of his bag and renewed the link to Hatty from his new connection, laughing softly when the ceiling came to life as a giant screen and showed the camera feed from the workshop. The lights had been turned on in the room and Giles had a circle of contraptions around him while he worked on another, Hatty beside him with her own mess in her lap. But she looked up at the camera and waved excitedly, the long cable connecting the compute to the back of her neck jiggling disturbingly.

"Hi Triton! Did I do it right?" She knew she had, but she wanted him to confirm it anyway. Trowa just smiled and nodded, knowing she could see them, even if Giles couldn't. Or maybe shed put it on the main screen for him, because Giles looked up long enough to roll his eyes, though he didn't stop what he was doing, engrossed in the task.

"You did fantastic Hatty. Can you activate the comm link to my SiS and negotiate the deal with Mr Winner for me?"

"Me?" It was clear she didn't like the idea. At all. Trowa still hadn't figured out why she didn't like Quatre, but when it was all over he intended to find out, because that would make a very interesting dinner conversation the next time Quatre came over. He just hoped it didn't interfere with what he needed her to do now.

"You can do it, Hatty."

"I know," she muttered and the 'I just don't want to' was clear in her tone. But the video feed cut off and he knew she was doing it, so he left it at that, using the Tablet to connect to the Eye and programming in his new coordinates.

"What are you doing?" Wufei looked at him curiously and even as he asked it, his expression changed and Trowa knew he knew he couldn't tell him anything. He couldn't risk it being on the network, and someone getting a step ahead of them. Of him.

"What you invited me here to do," Trowa smiled, a rare genuine turn of lips and eyes that left Wufei no doubt about what Trowa knew, or what he wanted.

"Heero?"

"Why me?" Trowa knew he wanted to send Duo, to get him back home and safe again but that wasn't what they needed right then. They had to send someone, and Trowa needed Duo's skill set more than Heero's.

"Because we won't be blowing anything up today."

Duo, at least, laughed. Heero stepped into the inner ring of the room and dragged Farrar in after him and then the light was growing again and Trowa got to see how much nicer it was to just stand there and bask in it without actually being taken apart piece by piece to be put back together at the other end of the rainbow.

When the light faded, Heero and Farrar were gone.

"Trowa?"

Clever Quatre. Trowa accepted the connection and moved closer to Duo and Wufei so they could all talk if they needed to, though it was clear they intended to stand back and wait for him to conduct his business.

"You alright?"

"You know, I don't really fancy being held hostage by robots or colonies. It's not as much fun as I was expecting."

"You don't say! I will try and keep that in mind next time I arrange a vacation for you."

Trowa chuckled softly but looked up at the feed on the ceiling that once again appeared, showing Hatty at the computer, waving her arms around and shaking her head as if she were going mad.

Right. Crazy robot. At least nothing was out of the ordinary.

"There is a flight manual under the seat, you need to get back to my hanger, and from there I'll send someone to get you."

"Okay." Quatre was frowning, Trowa knew it. "Trowa, about Hatty..."

"Just agree to it Quatre. It's a fair price." But Quatre hated to lose and even this would feel like losing to him. Still, it wasn't like he had a choice and this was a much better alternative to some of his options.

"You owe me, Trowa."

Right then Trowa was pretty sure he owed just about everyone he knew something, but he just nodded and severed the connection, handing a second tablet to Wufei. He only hesitated a little before letting Wufei have it completely.

"You'll want to contact Nataku?"

"Yes..." Wufei's voice was so much quieter now that he wasn't yelling at him, watching Trowa cautiously, afraid of what he appeared to know now and what that might mean to Them. Trowa just ignored it for the moment, because to him it was irrelevant and if Wufei wanted to make a deal out of it, he could do so later. When they had time and he had inclination.

"You know, I'm real happy the two of you got to snog and all, but I'm batshit confused as to what the hell is actually going on, so would someone please fill me the hell in?" Duo left Wufei alone where he wandered off to talk to Nataku and Trowa just shrugged because he couldn't afford to say anything.

"That's completely not fair. You can't just not tell me, even Heero knows what's going on!"

"No he doesn't," Trowa corrected. "He just wanted you to think he did."

"Nataku will meet us in the workshop," Wufei muttered and it was obvious they had argued about it. Trowa wondered what that was like, arguing with yourself, but didn't dare to ask. He just nodded and wondered if he should punch her in the face and then ask her a few questions, or just punch her in the face.

"You're not allowed to shoot her," Wufei told him bluntly.

"Thought didn't even cross my mind." Until Wufei put it there and now it seemed like a damn good idea to Trowa. Not that he was going to tell Wufei he wanted to shoot his precious robot girl. Wufei might do something stupid and try to shoot Trowa's robot girl in retaliation and he needed Hatty. So shooting was out, that was fine.

Trowa made a few adjustments to the Eye settings through his tablet and then motioned the others into the inner circle before stepping in himself and sighing.

"What's wrong? Is something not working?" Duo asked worriedly and both Trowa and Wufei just turned to stare at him, because of course nothing was wrong. "Don't look at me like that! I value my balls! I don't want you re-mol-whatevering them into existence on Miranda or some other middle of fucking nowhere moon!"

Trowa would have laughed, if he hadn't had the same fears himself. Duo expressed the sentiment much more eloquently, however.

He stumbled forward and was damn pleased with ingenuity as he stepped left and threw up straight into the toilet. Warm hands stroked down his back and he glared at Wufei because the man seemed strangely fine, as if the process didn't affect him at all. That was horribly unfair, but he supposed there had to be some perks to having those ports all over your damn body. Very sexy body, all in black...He licked his lips and forced himself to concentrate on standing up instead of kneeling and doing what he really wanted.

"Reactivate the Pad," he ordered and Wufei got to work immediately, because Duo was still struggling to stop drooling on the wall, puke around his shoes.

"Seriously. That's so fucked." Trowa had to agree with him.

"I don't even know what I'm throwing up anymore. I haven't eaten anything since the last time."

"Good point," Duo stood slowly, rubbing his temples and taking deep, calming breaths. "Maybe it's some kind of space goo you pick up between one place and another." Because of course Duo would think of inter dimensional space goo as the answer.

"Maxwell, that's the dumbest thing I've heard all week, and I've had Hatty singing to me at night."

Duo and Trowa both stared at him then, because while Trowa had known they were linked, Duo clearly hadn't, and even if he had known Duo would have been just as creeped out by the idea of Hatty singing him to sleep as Trowa was.

"Hatty sings well," he had to admit, because even if it was weird, she actually had a nice voice.

"Yeah. It's fantastic, especially while she's asleep and singing about sleeping with you," Wufei muttered darkly, glaring at Trowa as if he'd put the idea in Hatty's head. What really concerned him wasn't the hint of jealousy in Wufei's voice, because frankly that was just cute. The concern was the spark of interest in Duo's gaze as he realised Hatty wanted to sleep with Trowa. That, Trowa knew he wasn't living down. Ever.

"I don't think sleeping with me is that stupid at all..."

Duo and Wufei stared at him and Trowa just grinned because it was better than crying. His chest hurt and his stomach ached and his head was spinning. He wasn't in good shape at all, and he needed to get back to Level 5 and quickly, but there was still so much to do before then.

"Are we good to go yet?"

"We're active," Wufei confirmed and Trowa just nodded, shoving Duo onto the Pad an sending him through with no warning at all, because it was amusing to think of Duo on the other side puking up some more inter planetary goo.

"That was a bit mean don't you think?" Wufei asked but he helped Trowa sit on the lid ofthe toilet and knelt down in front of him, pulling off his shirt and inspecting the bandage.

"I'm okay."

"You say that when I know you stapled this shut," Wufei grumbled at him and Trowa sighed because he should have known Frank was listening, either at Wufei's command or his own, it didn't matter.

Wufei signed with him and unfolded his feet so he could kneel properly, as if bowing to him only he stayed high, lean arms wrapping around Trowa's waist, head laying down in Trowa's lap. It was unexpected but Trowa didn't hesitate, one hand stet signing on Wufei's back to hold him there in the strange embrace, the other burying itself in Wufei's hair, fingertips memorising the texture.

"I shouldn't have brought you here."

It made Trowa furious but all he did was hold Wufei tighter to him.

"You shouldn't have had to. I should have come, should have looked in every corner of every universe until I found you."

It won a soft, broken laugh from Wufei and Trowa felt wetness on his thigh and didn't say a word, just held on, finally in the place he should have been all along.

"Should have, shouldn't have. It's irrelevant now." But he should have, and it hurt that Wufei still didn't see that. No matter what happened, this was where Trowa wanted to be, and he wanted Wufei to respect that; to understand Trowa needed to be at his side.

After a while, Wufei pulled back and sat staring up at Trowa's face, one hand resting over the bandages across his chest, fingers stroking a little. Soothing. As if no time had passed at all, bridging the years between them and lifting Trowa from his self imposed apathy.

"I love you too."


	29. Chapter 29

29

It only got harder to let go. For some reason Trowa had thought the more often you got to hold on, the easier it would be, but when you weren't sure how long it would be until next time this time seemed to take on a whole new meaning. He sighed when Wufei finally pulled away completely, standing and checking the room over, but no one had been there and it was just an excuse to give Trowa the time he needed to pull himself together.

"So."

Wufei turned to look at him curiously, arching on lean brow and waiting patiently, unlike Heero. That wasn't as fun at all, Trowa wanted to lead him on a little, but Wufei knew him too well and wasn't falling for it. Maybe next time.

"Where is Tracey?"

Wufei should have been surprised by the question. That he wasn't answered a lot of Trowa's. There was hesitation, but it didn't feel like delay and Trowa knew Wufei was communicating with Frank, faster than they were having a conversation there in the flesh. Just how did they expect him to save Wufei when they could process exponential amounts of information while he just had his mothball filled human brain? Sometimes the odds really were unfair.

"She is still alive."

"That's not what I asked," Trowa pointed out but he knew before Wufei just shrugged at him that it was the only answer he was going to get. the annoying thing was that he didn't particularly care that the traitor was alive, and would in fact have been much more satisfied to hear about her untimely end. She hadn't been the one to shoot him, sure, but she'd still been a part of fucking him over.

He would just have to remember that she was still alive, in case it was something he could use. Soon. After all, just because she was alive now, didn't mean she was going to stay that way. Trowa was curious to know what Wufei had done to her, in the dark where no one else could see. He didn't think it was kisses in a dark corner, at least not of the kind he would have wanted from Wufei.

Trowa looked curiously at the sword on Wufei's back but it was sheathed and he would have cleaned it by now anyway.

"Alright, let's go," he muttered and Wufei just smirked, smug as to have gotten his way, like he wasn't always getting his way of late. He'd paid a price for it though so Trowa didn't say a word.

Poking the edge of the shower with his toe, Trowa took a deep breath and stepped in onto the Pad, carefully avoiding stepping in Duo's vomit, which he intended to make Duo clean up as soon as there was time. Wufei did the same, stepping deliberately close to Trowa, until they were almost touching and he could feel Wufei's light breath on his throat.

"Please remember," Wufei whispered hurriedly. "No matter what happens, I love you."

He had no more time to enjoy it as his existence lurched and he stumbled sideways, reaching out for Wufei and catching only air. He fell backward as a last resort, crashing into the wall and hoping he wasn't stepping on any of Giles' parts but he heard no objections and figured he was safe. Hands finally reached out to help him and he filled with relief, still not sure how Wufei had gotten so far away from him the moment they molecularized.

"Trowa?"

Only it wasn't the voice he needed. Trowa struggled to look up, to match the voice he was hearing to the face in front of him but it was hard when he didn't want to believe it and he still had Wufei's voice ringing in his ears.

"Duo? Where's Wufei?"

But Duo was as confused by the question as Trowa was by the answer and it took a minute to let the truth settle. Wufei was gone. Whether by his own design, Frank's, or someone else entirely it didn't matter. He wasn't with him, and that was what hurt.

"I'm fine. Just give me a minute," he muttered, staggering to a seat and sitting heavily. Duo left him to it, going back to where Giles was assembling the parts Trowa had requested at near inhuman speed. He'd gotten much more done than Trowa would have thought possible, but he suspected a great portion of it had already been laying around the workshop, just waiting for Harrison to finish the job he'd started.

Damn Wufei and his connection to Frank. Damn them both and their secret conversations. Damn them for leaving him out of their plans. He was angry, but he had no time to be, so he took deep breaths, focused in a way he hadn't had to in years and concentrated on one thing.

Wufei loved him.

"Alright. Where are we up to?" He looked at all the pieces and realised Giles and Hatty had laid out each piece on its corresponding instructions, in order of assembly. Smart, and efficient, and it made it obvious where they were up to but Giles still checked the remaining pile anyway.

"A lot of these parts are ready, but Hatty's checking each one to make sure it's fully functional and has no flaws..." He pointed to where Hatty sat on the other table, plugged into the system, humming softly under her breath, eyes closed but fingers efficiently working at piece after piece, checking the external for flaws, then plugging it into herself and checking it worked before passing it down to Duo to put in the assembly train and picking up the next piece. She never opened her eyes but there was a blue light shining under her eyelids.

"I think we need to finish about thirty more. A few hours at most, unless something's faulty."

Harrison had been so close. Which was probably why Hatty had been in so many pieces when Trowa had first found her. He felt bad all over again for messing her up further instead of putting her back together. But he could apologise later.

The Pad activated and Duo didn't hesitate, snatching up his gun from his side and pointing it stoically at the two figures that appeared.

"Trowa. Thank God, I was so worried!" Trowa was confused for a heartbeat before he remembered the last time Quatre had seen him he'd been shot in the chest and left for dead. But his attention wasn't on Quatre as he strode over, even less hesitation than Duo and punched Nataku in the face.

It hurt. Her metal faceplate protested the attack just under her skin but he felt things break and it felt amazing. Her head spun hard back and the skin at her throat broke, with no blood.

It was satisfying. She didn't scream or cry out but she didn't need to. As she dropped her head forward he saw the plate had buckled on one side of her nose, cutting through the skin and sticking out in a jagged mess, some kind of liquid leaking out one eye. It was so much more satisfying than a black eye.

"Trowa!" Quatre was gaping and Duo was on his feet, coming to intervene if it was needed, but it wasn't. Trowa just stared at the creature and it stared back. He knew it hadn't really been her fault, but that didn't fill the hole in his chest or help him save Wufei.

"Hatty?" He had to wait until she finished inspecting the current piece in her hands but then she opened her eyes and looked at him curiously before grinning.

"You're back! Welcome back, Triton!" He wondered if she was always going to be so stupidly happy to see him. Unfortunately, it was likely.

"Thank you Hatty. I need you to disable Nataku's wireless. Can you do that for me?"

"I can..." But she hesitated which was code for 'but I have a better idea'.

"Whatever you think is best, Hatty. Just make sure no one else can access her."

"But the Origen," Nataku protested and Trowa felt the rage rising in him again. He stalked closer to her and she was forced to stumble backward toward Hatty's waiting hands. He didn't stop until Hatty had Nataku's head firmly in her skinny, agile fingers and then he paused, staring into the all too familiar face.

"You will not touch him."

She seemed distressed, completely out of character.

"But it's my prime directive."

Because she had those, unlike Hatty. He sighed and waved his hand at Hatty who obediently popped off the back of Nataku's head and got to work. It was disturbing, seeing her headcap on the table beside her and Trowa turned away quickly to see what he could do to help Duo and Giles.

Quatre was still looking at him like he had kicked a puppy and Trowa didn't have the heart to point out puppies bled when you broke their faces.

"Hatty, secure the room."

"Okay!" She made it sound like a fun game. To her it probably was. Trowa was starting to agree. High as the stakes were, it was still fun. If Wufei hadn't been involved he suspected he'd be having the time of his life. But Wufei was.

"So the plan is?"

"The plan is finish Hatty."

They were all just staring at him, and he sighed because with the amount of manuals he had to read to get all the information he had just to come to the right conclusions he wasn't all that surprised that they were still a step behind in the comprehension game. But it was still frustrating. He didn't like explaining things that he didn't understand very well himself.

"Nataku is a robot."

"Well shit, you don't say!" Duo rolled his eyes but kept working on the piece of equipment in his hands. They all knew the value of time and Duo seemed to have picked up on his sense of urgency. They needed to stay ahead of Frank, and Trowa had no idea if that was even possible.

"Nataku, what are you?" Trowa asked softly and turned just in time to see her face move mechanically, the switches now visible under the skin.

"I am a humanoid robot."

"Yeah, we got that," Duo muttered, clearly annoyed that Trowa was once again holding back opine good cards. But Giles was listening carefully, the small crease in his brow a clad sign he was puzzling over what Trowa was trying to point out. Quatre was still new enough to it all to look thoroughly creeped out.

"Hatty, what are you?" She was still busy and took a minute to respond, though she smiled as soon as Trowa said her name.

"I'm a robotic humanoid," she said excitedly. Which she had every right to be, being the only one of her kind.

The others were staring at the two robots, clearly confused but aware there was significance to the difference in their titles. It was Giles who figured it out, gasping a little and staring at Trowa as if he'd had anything at all to do with it.

"So ones a cyborg designed with human parts so that it can behave more like a human, and the other..." Quatre was staring at Hatty, still not sure what to make of her, and clearly having no idea why she kept snarling at him. Trowa had to admit it was a little disturbing, especially with the odd blue glowing under her skin showing through in different parts.

"The other is a human supplemented with robotic parts to make it super human."

"It's an Artilect," Giles realised, staring at Hatty with wide eyes as if he were seeing her for the first time. Trowa had heard the term bandied around for decades, but it had all seemed a little far fetched to him. Machines with all the computational abilities of a trillion trillion atoms and the complex psychology of a human brain. Hell, something beyond a human brain. Technology so advanced humans could no longer keep up with it, the machine capable of learning on its own beyond the human capacity to do so.

She was just a child, learning, but she'd been alive barely months and was already in her adolescence. Trowa had no idea what she would become, and didn't care because at the centre of her was a clone of Wufei's mind, Wufei's heart, and in some indefinable way Wufei's soul. She loved him, because Wufei loved him, only she did so with all the single minded determination and blindness of someone who didn't know any better. And it was that blind love that had given her away; had allowed Trowa to see what she was.

"She's not quite an Artilect yet. She's still missing a few pieces that she needs," Trowa noted softly, smiling back at her and feeling the ache in his chest grow when she smiled brightly back at him, going back to work on Nataku.

"Well then," Quatre muttered, clearly still confused but catching on fast. "We better give the lady what she needs..."

"No!" Hatty bellowed and they all froze and stared at her pointing at Quatre with a shaking finger, rage clear on her face. Even Nataku had frozen in place, afraid to move while Hatty still had one hand on her brain.

"Hatty, sweetness?" Trowa tried and she hesitated but just pointed savagely again at Quatre.

"I don't want him touching my private parts!"

They were all gaping, staring at the collection of parts and letting them take on a whole new meaning in their minds and suddenly it felt far more disturbing than it had a minute ago. It was Duo who suddenly sounded like he was choking on something and after a few seconds of trying to hold back he started laughing. Hard. So hard his face went red and he too pointed at Quatre and just laughed.

Hatty seemed to settle at that and went back to working on Nataku, but Quatre sat sullenly, shifting closer to Trowa and muttering darkly under his breath that he'd never even seen the robot girl and she had just decided to hate his guts and it really wasn't fair and she wouldn't even tell him why.

"You are the only person I know who would worry about the Artilect not liking you," Trowa whispered but he was grinning, because it was one of the things that made Quatre so endearing. Even if he was curious himself as to why Hatty had a problem with Quatre. There really didn't seem to be a reason for it.

"It's just...she's Wufei, right? I mean the parts of her that are human, they're parts they've taken from Wufei?"

So he'd read the reports they sent. Probably scoured through them on the shuttle ride here. No wonder he was catching on as fast as he was. But then, he'd also been Nataku's hostage for the past while.

"Yes, she is Wufei..." And that was a sentence Trowa had never dreamed he would say. "But she's not Wufei as well. She doesn't have his memories or experiences, just the key components he was born with. She's Hatty."

"But they both chose you," Quatre pointed out and he was smiling now, nudging Trowa's shoulder a little. It was nice, to be reminded of their dinners and talking like this and the many times he had bemoaned Wufei not responding to his advances and Quatre always there to reassure him it was working. That Wufei was just a blind, stubborn fool who couldn't bare to lose, even when both their hearts were on the line. To remember Quatre knew him, and his fears, and when he looked at Hatty had never seen a monster but instead had seen immediately that she loved. And who.

"Apparently," he agreed finally, but he wasn't sure he could claim it a victory that Hatty had chosen to make him her love interest.

"So if she hates me, I could assume Wufei does as well. Or at least did, when we first met. And apparently for no fathomable reason?"

Trust Quatre to see it that way. But it made Trowa pause and really think about it. Wufei didn't hate Quatre, of that he was certain, so why did Hatty? She could, of course, but in almost all things she was eerily familiar, similar to Wufei in taste and inclination. It was just this one thing they seemed to differ on, unless as Quatre said, Wufei hated him too.

"Wufei doesn't hate you," Trowa said, certain of it. "It is weird that she's so vehement about you though. I think you're the only thing she hates more than Frank." If she even still hated the station, they had seemed to be getting along better but who knew when it was a relationship between robots.

"You know you're not reassuring at all?" But at least Quatre was smiling now, sitting back and letting them do all the work, because he was forbidden from helping by the person they were trying to help.

Time slipped by quickly, and the assembly line steadily grew. After a time Nataku came and sat by Giles, looking miserable even if she wasn't actually capable of misery. A machines interpretation of the emotion, perhaps. After a while even she reached out and picked up a piece, working on assembling it and helping to speed up the process.

"I could start putting these in. If you trust me to do so?" Nataku was looking at Trowa but it was Hatty he looked to, raising a brow in question and watching her think about it, He could tell it wasn't Nataku she was considering, but the quality of the parts she had not yet examined but in the end she just smiled at all of them and nodded to Nataku. Because she trusted them to get it right.

Or she knew she could fix anything they screwed up.

Nataku wasted no time, going to the bench arrows had originally found Hatty on and clearing it while Hatty hurriedly took off her dress and hat, dumping them rather unceremoniously in Trowa's lap. She crouched down in front of him then and he tried to ignore the heart in its strange containment chamber beating in her chest and the strange collection of vein-like arterial components spreading out from it. He didn't know how she worked, and didn't need to.

"Kiss for luck?"

He laughed and gave in, leaning close to kiss her on the cheek and while he could see she was a little disappointed it was all he could give her and her smile was still there so he knew he had done the right thing.

"Good luck, Hatty."

"Silly. I don't need luck," she laughed and stood quickly, skipping to where Nataku was waiting and Trowa sighed, getting up and putting her clothes on a shelf nearby.

"Tell me how to help," he said softly to Nataku and she just pointed at the first page with its component and it began.

Nataku would take the part Trowa handed her, he would read through the whole page of instructions and they would discuss it, make sure they understood and agreed on where it was going and then they would put it in, clearly and one small instruction at a time.

He had thought building the pieces would take the most time, but Giles and Duo finished long before even a third of the base components were installed. duo and Quatre went to see what they could find out in the Hanger, and Trowa knew Duo was going more as a bodyguard for Quatre than anything else. Giles stayed and after a time came to take the instructions from Trowa so Trowa could be a second pair of hands for Nataku.

"You okay, Hatty?"

It had been hours and Hatty had said nothing and Trowa realised he hadn't even thought about the fact she was awake. It was like they were performing surgery and he had perceived her as being in some kind of anaesthetised state, when in reality she was just lying there with her eyes closed, activating components whenever Nataku finished doing something. Lights would blink and occasionally something in Hatty would move without them touching it, but it was all just part of her assimilating the new pieces into herself. Even Nataku seemed to have no idea what to expect, so Trowa was ignoring it and just going with the flow. But he didn't like that she was awake and his fingers shook a little as he worked on installing the next piece of her very complex puzzle.

"I'm fine, Giles. Thank you for asking."

"Does it feel strange?" Seriously where was he getting these questions?

"Maybe? I don't know what strange is. But sometimes it's very interesting."

Trowa didn't think his idea of interesting and hers were the same at all, but Giles didn't seem to agree with him. He was fascinated and as each piece was installed he asked Hatty if she was okay and they talked about what she was doing. He was articulately interested when she would move things around, little parts of herself rearranging themselves around the new pieces. Completing itself.

Trowa was starting to realise Harrison hadn't needed to complete her. If they had left her long enough she would have found a way to Reactivate herself, and with enough time to read all the manuals and the parts left in the workshop she would have been able to build herself. They were just speeding up the process. A lot.

"Hatty?" Trowa interrupted the conversation she was having with Giles, feeling tired and weak. His chest hurt horribly and he pulled back from the table, letting Nataku take over completely again.

"Did I do something wrong?" Hatty sounded panicked and Trowa immediately took her hand, squeezing in reassurance.

"No, not at all. You're doing great. You know you are. I'm still hurt though, and I need to lie down for a while."

"Please don't go!" She sounded so young, and was so small. She reminded him too much of Wufei, before Wufei knew what it was really like to be afraid. She tugged on his hand and looked at him pleadingly. "You can lie down here, with me."

He sighed and looked at Nataku and she just stepped back to give him to time to do it. Giles helped him up onto the table and he lay down beside Hatty, feeling ridiculous but also relieved to have his weight sprawled out on the table instead of on his feet. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore that Nataku and Giles were there, because this was weird enough without remembering people were watching him.

But Hatty's hand was neither warm nor cool, just a strong but gentle presence wrapped around his own and when she squeezed it was with the exact same pressure he had used to reassure her. Learning...always learning. That was Hatty's secret. She would learn forever, even when it seemed there was nothing left to learn.

He fell asleep to her softly humming under her breath, to Ride of the Valkyries, of all things. He laughed as he went under.

He woke to familiar lips on his, soothing fingers in his hair and when he woke Wufei's eyes were looking back at him. His heart sped up immediately and his hands ached to reach out and pull him closer. But something was wrong and it nagged at his mind as the lips pressed against his own.

It didn't smell like him. It wasn't Wufei. She pulled back before he could force her to and he just glared but she was looking at him thoughtfully and there was a sadness to the look that hadn't been there before.

Hatty slid off the edge of the table and Trowa watched her as she did a few turns, examining her new pieces and he marvelled along with her. There were no holes to her composition, she was covered from head to toe in a substance that looked very much like skin, as humanesque now as Nataku had always seemed. They hadn't had skin on their list, but there had been a generator of some kind and he knew, somehow, that she had grown it. She'd grown hair as well, and he wasn't at all surprised to see it hung identical to Wufei's, framing her face just so and making her look that much more like him. She was still the small, fragile creation he had found but the Frankenstein visage s gone, replaced with something Trowa found more personally horrifying.

She got her dress from the shelf and carefully put it on, admiring the way it draped correctly now she actually had a stomach. But it was the hat she reached for, that she wanted the most and Trowa sat up slowly, watching as she very carefully put it on sideways, exactly where Trowa always spun it around to and she looked at him hopefully.

His lips still tingled and his chest felt like either staples had broken, the stitches melted away and his heart had fallen out. He forced a smile and wondered how she could be so exactly perfect, and so completely wrong at the same time.

"You look good, Hatty."

Her smile was beautiful, and entirely her own.

Giles was sitting in the corner, trying not to stare, Nataku at his side. Like Dr Jekyll finally getting to see Hyde for himself in the mirror. Trowa ignored them, because he couldn't have torn his attention away from Hatty if he had wanted to.

"Thank you for helping to complete me," she said softly to Giles and Nataku, sounding almost shy as she curtseyed a little, clearly very pleased with her new appearance. But it was Trowa she walked over to, helping him move to sit on the edge of the table and smoothing his hair down into the way he liked it to fall. She'd even replicated that small collection of freckles on Wufei's shoulder and he just stared at them in confusion, reaching out after a while and stroking them as if they might magically rub off.

"Why?" Because she could have looked like anyone, anything, could have been a supermodel or whatever her ideal of beautiful was. But that was the point. This was her Ida of beautiful; what he loved.

"Because I am what I am," she said softly. She wasn't going to apologise, and she was right not to. She had as much right to the face as Wufei. It was shared between them in a way no one else could understand. She was as much Wufei as Wufei was her.

"Will you help me?"

"Of course," she agreed, stroking a hand down his chest and letting it rest over his chest, her expression pained. He knew that if she could have fixed him, she would have. It hurt her, to see him broken. In pain, even if the worst pain he had was inflicted by her very existence.

She went to the Pad first, walking around it as if seeing it for the first time but when she crouched beside it and lay her palm against it the metal seemed to jump against her skin and then it began to move. It raced around her touch, breaking apart and reforming, making itself anew and settling into place, shiny and looking band new, scratches and markings gone. She hadn't just remade it, she had repaired it and it no longer surprised him at all.

Giles stepped up beside him to help him stand, and Trowa was grateful for the fatherly hand that rubbed at the small of his back. He wasn't sure he would have stayed standing without it.

Hatty stood and stepped onto the remade Pad, jumping on it as if to test its durability and then she smiled, bare feet tapping happily, toes curling as if she were touching grass for the first time.

"It's ready."

"Why do I get the feeling this isn't going to go quite the way you planned?" Giles muttered but he helped Trowa walk over to the Pad. Nataku followed, stepping up beside Hatty and staring at her curiously. It had to be hard, to know she was inferior in every way, but maybe she wasn't capable of understanding that,

"Because it's not my plan anymore," Trowa muttered. He'd had a few good ideas and a way to make it happen but most of those ideas were small and insignificant because he hadn't understood the true horror that was Hatty. He'd underestimated her. Again.

"Hatty, you have a plan, right?" Giles asked, wanting to check and Hatty just smiled, reaching out to pet him on the head. As if he were a puppy. Trowa looked at Nataku and felt a little bad that he hadn't even bothered to fix her face.

Hatty followed his line of sight and frowned, reaching out and cupping Nataku's face with her hand. Nataku winced but then her face was moving under Hatty's touch, looking as if something might break out of it like in one of Duo's now a little too believable horror films. Only nothing broke free of her face and the metal structure reformed into its previous flawless design and her skin repaired itself.

Hatty's hand dropped away and Nataku tilted her head to the side, contemplating the repair work

"Thank you...Hatty." It was like she was trying out the word for the first time, and Trowa couldn't remember if she'd ever used the name or not. If she'd ever thought she would need to.

"You're welcome, Nataku."

Hatty moved back to stand beside Trowa and took his hand. He didn't protest the contact, just stared at her hand in his and wondered why it felt so right when it should have been wrong. He wanted to scream, to protest, to demand the hand in his be Wufei's, and that they let him take Wufei home, at from all of this.

Because he knew, as he looked into Hatty's eyes and saw her really looking back at him,that he was never going home. That none of them were.

The floor lit up like the Eye, sweeping up his legs and engulfing them, but it was warm and this time when he broke apart he felt nothing at all.


	30. Chapter 30

30

When the light faded, Trowa almost stumbled out of reflex but held himself still long enough to realise he didn't need to. He felt fine. He was whole, or as whole as he could be with a hole in his chest, and he felt no queasiness at all. He looked to Giles but the man seemed fine as well, which just left him glaring at Hatty.

"You will be upgrading all of the Pads."

"Okay!" It seemed she enjoyed doing it, which was fine. Trowa had no problem with her enjoying her work, as long as it resulted in nice, easy transitions from once place to another. He just wished he was part robot so she could fix him. Wufei couldn't even complain about it, since just how human he was was debatable now as well.

They were in the Hanger. Several men were standing around them, staring and one had the sense to reach for the weapon at his hip. Trowa had to admit the shock on their faces was understandable. They had just appeared out of nowhere on an empty SiS pad. It had to look suspicious. It wasn't like they could have just molecularized from the other side of the door, unless they'd developed a means to breathe in space without a helmet, which...they hadn't. It was still a stupid idea to threaten an Artilect.

It was a worse idea, apparently, to shoot at one. Not because Hatty got angry, but because she had a bodyguard.

The man fired his weapon but it never hit its target, his arm breaking with a hard snap of skin and bone, his scream drowning out the sound as Nataku's hands closed around the limb and wrenched. His arm faced two directions, neither of which was the right one and Trowa thought he might have thrown up if his stomach hadn't already been completely empty. He watched coldly as Nataku silenced the man permanently and turned to face the others still staring in horror.

"I don't suggest trying the same," Duo noted coldly, stepping up behind the other men, calm and in no hurry, as if they were unaware of the thunder of feet rushing to investigate the scream. Quatre was at his side, looking much more comfortable with his surroundings, dressed in full military blacks. What he and Duo had been up to, Trowa was almost sure he didn't want to know.

The ground started to move under his feet. Hatty was crouching at his side and Trowa watched, fascinated as she altered their landscape. He had no idea how she did it. Self replicating nanites? It's wasn't impossible, but then he didn't think anything was anymore, so he just watched as the world moved around them, building walls where there had been none and creating hallways where there had been solid barriers. It would have been interesting to see it from the other side, if it was even half as stunning as being within.

He had no idea where she led them, and didn't dare to ask. Moses had never had such an attentive following. He saw parklands he was sure belonged on Level 5 alongside metallic slums he was sure he had rummaged through on Level 2 in the same hallway, and emerged into street stalls he was sure had been not far from His Room. He saw people who looked as confused as they should, and others who seemed beyond it, as if nothing would surprise them anymore. As if they had moved here to escape ever being surprised again. Hatty wandered through the changing landscape as if it were normal, her feet gentle and caressing as they slowly stroked their way through the moving city.

Trowa watched her through wide eyes and wondered if this was what the world looked like to her. Fluid and changing at a rate not perceivable to the human eye, but constant to her. If nothing was still, but instead was like information moving through the system of the universe, consistent and relentless. Like life. If maybe she was just speeding it up.

The world stopped moving and Hatty stopped in the middle of a large expanse of grass. Level 1 parklands, Trowa recognised, not because they were any better than the parklands in the rest of Frank but because all around them flowers were blooming. The kind that only grew in one place.

Passion flowers. Duo went and crouched beside one, poking at its petals, disbelieving for a minute before picking one very carefully and taking it back to Hatty. Very carefully, as if he thought Hatty might break his arm, or Nataku and really who could blame him for that fear, he reached out and slid the stem of the flower over her ear, curling it around so the flower bloomed by her forehead, framing one eye. She titled her head, as if considering the significance of the action and Duo just smiled.

"You look very pretty."

Hatty tilted her head to the side and Trowa wasn't even aware he was holding his breath until Quatre poked him in the side when his lungs began to ache for release. He still hesitated to do so and doubted anyone blamed him.

"Was I not pretty before?"

"Of course you were," Duo assured her, not missing a beat. "But friends like to give one another gifts. I think my gift is pretty, and I hope you think so too. It suits you, in my opinion."

Again with the thinking. Trowa thought he might go mad if she didn't stop. If maybe knowing she would never stop meant he was already mad.

"Why do friends give one another gifts?"

"Sometimes to celebrate special occasions. Sometimes just to show they care. Sometimes for no reason at all," Giles mumbled and Hatty watched him. Saw pain and joy and loss in the words and reached up to stroke one of the petals of her flower approvingly. And promptly forgot about it. Simple as that.

But while Hatty considered presents, Trowa mused on flowers and the significant of their arrival at that particular place. It couldn't be a coincidence but it's significance was lost on him. They stood watching, each unsure what to do as Hatty wandered the small park and carefully picked a bouquet for herself.

"There something you're not telling us?" Duo smirked and Trowa scowled darkly because no he wasn't marrying the damned Artilect and he would prefer Duo didn't put the idea in her damned head. Duo won his snicker from Giles instead.

"Something's not right here."

They all stared at Quatre then, because...really?

"And what gave it away?" Duo muttered. "The robot girl turned ascended being, the trip through the space version of wonderland or the field of consciousness enhancing drugs we're all just happily standing in?"

"Honestly, it was the drugs," Giles mumbled back and after a minute of staring at him in confusion Trowa realised he agreed with him. Hatty didn't really surprise him anymore, but the flowers were confusing. There was only one thing he knew about them; they were part of Wufei's prison. He didn't like them at all.

"If Level 5 is where we left it, which I will admit is pretty debatable right now," Duo observed.

"We're not far from Level 6," Trowa agreed, and that was what wasn't right. Yes, he had asked Hatty for help, but she could have transported them directly from the workshop to the lift. Why the detour? What was she really changing and why? How insidious was her hold on Frank already and could they really trust her? He'd thought they could trust Nataku and that really hadn't gone too well for him. He rubbed his chest, contemplating.

"You did ask her for help," Giles reminded him and it was only the truth but it still annoyed the hello it of him. He'd meant with his plan, not with whatever the hell she had come up with. He looked at Ntaku and wondered what she thought of their conversation. Did their doubts annoy her? Was she trying to convince herself Hatty wouldn't destroy her if she broke Trowa's arm? Turned his head too far on his shoulders? Left his body amongst the passion flowers?

Why passion flowers?

_La pasionaria_. Why?

It was a stunning flower, with it's sun like heart of gold and it's flakes of petals overflowing in rich reds or purples, and at its heart it's tiered stem of three, surrounded by its halo of snow like whisp. There was something otherworldly about it and he found himself drawn in, crouching down to stare into it, closer and closer until it filled his vision.

"Trowa?" Quatre leant over his shoulder, trying to see what he was seeing but he sounded confused and he'd hadn't been on board Frank long enough to see anything but a flower. To realise everything had another meaning, another life. Another reason for being.

"It's a triangle," he mumbled, frowning as he began to suspect things he probably shouldn't. He as just tired, worn out and injured and likely feverish and suffering exhaustion. Seeing things that weren't there. It wasn't out of the ordinary, was even to be expected.

So why did it feel so right? Why was he so certain he'd made a very, very big mistake?

"I got something for you."

He looked up at Hatty, not surprised she was as far away from Quatre as she could get while still being considered close to Trowa.

There was no hint of purple in the flower she held out for him. The petals were the rich red of blood and the pollen stuck to its triadic centre in fluorescent clumps. But it's centre was broken, the flower splitting in two from its stem up through its heart. It wouldn't live long, and there was no saving it, but for the moment it retained its beauty. He took it in confusion and just stared at Hatty's smile, wondering if he would come to regret putting it there.

"Our ride is here," Duo said nearby and Trowa turned to see the lift in the middle of the park. It certainly hadn't been there before.

"So it is."

Hatty took his hand again and swung his arm. It felt like she might rip it clean off, pulling at his stitches and staples but he didn't dare to say so. The pain was a welcome reminder of reality and just how much was at stake. He held tight to the flower in his other hand and let her lead him to the lift.

It was a tight squeeze with all of them. Trowa looked at each person individually, wondering by he felt a distinct lack of trust. Nataku, Giles, Quatre, Duo...Hatty. Each had given him whatever he asked for since he arrived on Frank, and some a little more than that. But he felt alienated and betrayed, by events that hadn't even happened yet.

Hatty was humming and he realised there was elevator music.

"Is that Beethoven?" Duo mumbled.

"Yes," Quatre replied quietly, stuck in the corner as far away from Hatty as he could get without being excluded.

"I don't see how that matters," Giles noted and Trowa had to agree with him. There hadn't been elevator music before, so why the hell was it there now? Either Hatty was oblivious to them, or was ignoring them on purpose, eyes closed and humming along happily.

"Of course it matters," Quatre mumbled, sounded annoyed that anyone would suggest classical music wasn't of vital importance, even in the elevator. Really, Trowa should have seen it coming.

"I hate Bach," Duo agreed. "Always puts me in a bad mood, and for gods sake put in a damn crescendo!"

"And Haydn!" Quatre latched onto the subject, grateful just to be allowed to contribute. "Write another sonata, I dare you."

The familiar ding sounded and the doors slid open. He really had to get out of the habit of holding his breath. And Giles needed to stop staring at Quatre and Duo like that, before they took offence.

His blood was gone from the floor and the holes in the wall had been repaired. The previous disarray of the system had altered and was an organised mass of equipment along the walls. The Origen chamber sat in the middle of a now round space, eight large tubes embedded in the floor running off into the walls. It looked like a giant spider, waiting in the dark. Trowa went to stand over one of the tubes and frowned at the rich green colour of whatever was inside. Too familiar.

The wall had transformed into a large Computer, monitoring the changes taking place in Frank on a series of video feeds down one side. The rest was running diagnostics, and a small square was still open showing a blank message board.

"You did all this?" Duo was stealing glances at Hatty as he wandered around the room, taking in the differences. There was no place to sneak in anymore, just the lift doors, closing behind them. He felt obsolete in the face of it all.

"Yes." Simple as that.

But it was the wrong question and Trowa stood frozen, not daring to ask the right one. Not ready to know why. The flower in his hand felt like a brick.

Hatty walked to the computer and carefully placed the passion flowers in a vase on the bench, only the vase sucked them inside and Trowa felt queasiness brewing in his gut. The flowers disappeared and fear gripped him as he wandered forward toward the Origen capsule.

The green liquid was swirling inside, the orb sitting in waiting where they had left it, it's lights dimmed and looking somehow worn. On its last legs. Dying, if a machine could do such a thing. But they had Hatty now...right?

Duo moved to his side and looked in, sighing in relief to see nothing human inside and Trowa felt him relax, seeing no immediate threat, besides the very obvious one better known as Hatty. Only they had completed her for a reason, and surely now she could make it all work.

But Trowa couldn't relax and Quatre must have picked up on some of his anxiety, because he stood closer than he needed to and his shoulders were set just so. The last time Trowa had seen him like that he'd been swearing a blue streak, and he'd lost men. The expectation was there that it was likely to happen again. Quatre then, at least, had figured out a little something of what Trowa knew.

"She's in love with you. I bags you do the talking," Duo mumbled under his breath and Quatre nodded in immediate agreement. Trowa just sighed and tentatively stepped past the capsule, as if putting it behind him could render him impervious to the pains it could yet cause.

"Hatty?"

"Yes?"

She looked too small to be capable of such things. Barefoot, hair loose around her shoulders, skin barely marked with freckles, eyes bright and clear and huge in her small face. It didn't seem possible she could alter the universe so intrinsically, with just a thought. He hated to think what she might be capable of in a century, or a millennia. A century of millennia. He didn't want her to have to live that long.

"What are you going to do?" He doubted anyone had ever asked her such a thing. What she was doing, yes, but not her intentions. She seemed as confused by the question as one might expect.

"What would you like me to do?"

"Save Wufei." The wanting, at least, was easy. But she was studying him again and he knew the silence was saying a lot more than he was hearing. If only he could connect, just plug in wirelessly and download her understanding of the situation, maybe then things might have made sense. Because he suspected that what he wanted was being misinterpreted, or that it was at least more complicated than he wanted to believe.

The screen blinked and the images changed, scrolling through events outside. The Preventers ships were making their move, closing in on Frank, most likely unaware of the SiS surrounding them and moving around to flank Preventers, trapping them between themselves and Franks hull.

"How is that a good defence? They're as like to blow a hole in our side as they are to actually take out a ship!" Duo was clearly displeased by the tactic but Giles just shrugged.

"Frank can take a pretty big hit. We hit an asteroid field about a year ago? There's not a dent to show for it."

They all just stared at the man, but it wasn't a joke and after a while they had to admit the computer screen and it's scrolling images was more interesting. The desire to be out there amongst it was thick in the room. Sitting at a desk had never suited any of them.

"Well. Time to go." Quatre went to the Pad and stepped on, looking to Trowa for help because Hatty was apparently ignoring him.

"Okay...and you're going where?" Duo was just annoyed to be once again out of the loop.

"Stay on the ground this time?" Trowa reminded him and Quatre saluted with a wry grin before Trowa nodded to Hatty and the Pad remote activated, the light sweeping up Quatre's legs and torso until he was too bright to look at, and then he and the light were gone. The nothingness was deeper on the inside than out.

"Is anyone ever going to tell me what the hell is going on?"

"I wouldn't count on it," Giles laughed softly, moving to sit on one of the chairs in front of the computer screen, close to the data feed. He looked old, and Trowa wondered if he even expected to live to see how it would all turn out.

"Dandy," Duo ground out, and Trowa didn't miss that he was rather strategically placed where he could see and access the whole space easily. But he felt little sympathy, since he was sure Duo had his own secrets. Like where Tracey was, and what he and Wufei had gotten up to in the dark when they cut the lights.

Trowa was tired of secrets.

"What should I do?" Hatty looked at him inquisitively and Trowa listened more carefully as a result. Because he understood now that every answer he gave was important.

"If I help, I could save lives, but people won't learn anything from the mistakes they've made and will most likely make the same mistakes again, costing lives. If I don't help, people might learn, but others will die in the process, but I could avoid further tragedy in the future from the lessons learned today. Is it a greater evil to let lives go now, or to deliberately risk the future?"

Not was it evil, but which was the greater evil. Because she understood it was evil to have the choice to begin with, that the greatest horror of it was that she could choose what to do with life. Whether to let it be, or see it extinguished.

"Life is lost either way," Trowa pointed out. "The question is do you want to live knowing you let them die."

Contemplating the answer, Hatty looked like a child puzzling over a particularly tricky riddle. Her expression in no way matched the gravity of her question.

"I will live either way." So the blood would be on her hands one way or the other. It didn't matter what she did, people were going to die, and she would be left to contemplate her roll in it, for eternity if she chose to live that long.

"People are not supposed to live long," she observed and he had no idea if she was talking about the life she saw coming for herself, or the lives she had in her hands.

"No they aren't." But they wanted to, and occasionally needed.

Her head tilted to the side and the monitors of the ships outside disappeared, the screens black. Whatever was going to happen, it was in the hands of others now. If Hatty was interfering, they had no way of knowing. Leaving things in the hands of others didn't sit well with them either. Especially when those hands weren't human.

He just hoped Quatrre had gotten through and was doing his part in things. Because really, Hatty could have sent him anywhere. Maybe he was finally getting a real holiday in the Bahamas.

"I will do the wrong thing eventually." And that seemed to hurt her a great deal.

"You will," Trowa agreed quietly. "But you can always make up for your mistakes, if you really want to."

"I think it will be easier to avoid making them in the first place. At least, for as long as possible. Don't you think?" She looked to Giles for confirmation, and it made Trowa smile because she wasn't that inhuman at all, looking to her elders for guidance.

"I think that's generally the best way to do things," Giles agreed and the regret in his voice was an aged beast long beaten down. He too had realised what was going on, starting to put all this obscure pieces of the puzzle together to form the real image. The sadness in him was no longer just for himself and his own loss.

The walls were changing again, things moving under the surface, bubbling across the expanse and smoothing out again. Trowa didn't even want to know what she was changing, his curiosity dying in the face of her impossibility. He clenched the passion flower tight in his fist, feeling the odd sting of its sap against his skin.

The Pad activated and Duo reacted immediately, gun coming up, his glare focused on Nataku where she stood opposite him, daring her to make a move on him. But she stood there, still and silent and it was her lack of action that told Torwa what was happening. He was already halfway to the Pad when the light faded and Wufei stood there, staring at him.

"No," Trowa ground out, stopping a few feet away and just staring at him. He had changed, just as Frank had. The ports looked new and the caps were gone, the improved plugs no longer leaking and the suit he wore hugged him like skin, a rich inky black that looked more like a shadow than clothing. There was circuitry in it, visible in the soft light as a pale tracing of lines in the material. Trowa could take a hint. He was no fool and knew what it was for.

"Yes," Wufei whispered, denying him despite the pain behind the words.

"No! I won't allow it!"

"And I won't allow you to stop me."

Trowa closed the gap between them, arms wrapping tight around Wufei, pulling him in close, covering him as much as possible and glaring at Hatty.

"Send us to Earth."

"I can't do that."

"SEND US NOW!"

Lips on his, arms holding so tight he felt blood between them, stitches breaking apart and pain blooming like the wet stain on his chest. Wufei's face so damn close to his, the warmth of him crashing against the cold in his own flesh. To come so close...

"I refuse." Because he deserved a say, at last. He was tired of sitting back, tired of waiting. He wanted his chance to be the centre of something. He wanted a phone call. He wanted it first. He wanted a life, and a home and a heart that no longer felt cold and withered in his chest. He wanted to look at someone and believe what they had to say, and to say thing sack that he actually meant. He wanted to feel. To react without thinking about the consequences. He wanted to do it with Wufei.

"It's not a choice, Trowa. It's a deed, and it's the right one. And it's mine." Not Frank's, not Hatty's, not some unknown face. Wufei's.

But his arms disagreed and Wufei only held him tighter. Trowa doubted getting blood on Wufei's shiny new suit would change anything. But it was a fleeting thought in a river of confused compulsion as Trowa struggled to bring himself under control when everything in him screamed to finally, blissfully let go.

Wufei pulled away but Trowa refused to release him just yet, holding him still on the Pad and trying to concentrate past the ache he doubted had anything to do with his injuries.

Things were finally making sense, becoming concrete in his mind and had he been thrown off a bridge he knew he would sink. That someone had already thrown him, and he just didn't know it because the bottom was an ocean away.

"The pyramid is mankind," he realised quietly and Wufei just winced. It was all Trowa needed to know he was on the right track. "Frank is what? A giant petrie dish?" So that man and machine could coexist in a controlled environment and learn from one another. And eventually, all that knowledge could be downloaded into a new system, the birth of the first Artilect. Only Harrison had jumped the gun, had learnt his own lessons from Frank and exceeded the limitations of the experiment. The sword was the Artilect, marking the end of human reign, the opening of the eye the birth of understanding in the universe at last. The dawn of something else.

Duo stepped forward, frowning at Trowa and Wufei and then looking to Nataku for confirmation. She finally stepped up, moving to Hatty's side and watching them carefully. Looking for the threat. Still following the program. It was Hatty who watched them with curiosity and the little something extra in his eyes that spoke of synapses a robot didn't possess.

"When they uploaded the information and activated me, they thought they hadn't accumulated enough information," Nataku divulged. "That I was still incomplete. That I lacked the understanding they were looking for."

"But Harrison knew better," Giles murmured, spinning idly in his chair and watching all of them, smart enough not to interfere. It was a story repeated a thousand times through history, he'd probably heard it a hundred times in a hundred different ways, but the key was timeless. Like Hatty.

"You weren't incomplete, you were faulty. He used what he knew of Frank and Nataku and he built Hatty," Duo surmised, shaking his head and finally dropping his hand and putting his gun away. "Is everyone on this freakin station nuts?"

"They didn't even know," Nataku countered. "They truly believed they were just getting away from the war." But her concern was fake, a manufactured response her programming believed best fitted the situation, and it didn't ring true as a result. Because it wasn't.

"Because that just makes it all better! They're innocent!" Duo ground out, rage rising and Trowa knew they would never hear the end of this. It would be one of those things Duo reminded them of incessantly. Remember that time we got stuck on the giant petrie dish and all the little bacteria thought they were just running away from the bad guys when in reality they were letting the bad guys lock them up like sardines to study while they rotted?

"Exactly," Wufei agreed stoically and Trowa finally let him go. Accepted the last kiss Wufei gently placed on his lips and watched him go to Hatty. The smile on both their faces was breathtaking. Identical but separate.

"You didn't ask me to come here to save you," Trowa realised, seeing them together. Both their heads came up.

_I want you to save someone. _

"I would never have been that selfish." And Trowa should have known that all along. He could have chosen to look on his own, but Wufei would never have asked.

"But you asked for her?" His voice broke as he said it because he understood why, and was glad he had. He would have done the same thing, had their situations been reversed, because Hatty deserved a chance to live. But she wasn't what he wanted, and it hurt, more than he would ever have thought possible, to be told at last.

No.

"Farrar had killed Harrison. I knew I could manipulate the system enough to bring you here, and that once here you would save her." It hadn't mattered what conclusions Trowa had drawn once there, what he had or had not believed. Once there, he had indeed found a trail of obscure breadcrumbs, and here they all were.

"But I want you." Had wanted him for so long it had become a need, as essential as breathing.

Wufei's smile turned sad and he pressed his hand to the cover on the Origen capsule, waiting patiently as it dematerialized and he stepped in.

"Just what the hell is going on here?" Duo demanded to know. "Wufei?"

"Hatty has made all the changes she can, without giving us tools that would destroy us," Giles observed. "She has made sure Frank will run flawlessly, the way it was designed to run, but beyond that..." Maybe she couldn't, maybe she just wouldn't, the point was that was the line she had drawn. If she crossed it she believed she would cost lives she wasn't willing to take the blame for and none of them had the right to ask her for more than that.

"It still needs you to run," Duo realised, sounding as horrified as Trowa felt watching Wufei lie back down inside the damn thing. "You don't have to do this! We'll find another way! Fuck, Fei, we'll do whatever it takes!" But that was exactly what Wufei was doing. Whatever it took to save innocent lives. To not be guilty, because if you saved the lives the first time and people didn't learn their lesson, then you just had to make sure you were there again the next time they fucked up. Again and again. As many times as it took.

Trowa ran forward, stumbling to the edge of the capsule and falling to his knees, leaning in and stealing one more kiss, holding Wufei's head above the green gel, firm and determined in his own hand.

"I will be here." Because Wufei had promised, and that mattered still. "However long it takes, I will be here and we will find a way."

"I know," Wufei whispered and this time his smile was a quiet, secret thing meant only for Trowa. "I will come back."

"I know." There was no fear in Wufei. He had given himself up to the idea long before he ever woke from his Frank-induced slumber. Had known the story could only have one ending.

"I love you," Trowa whispered, barely audible.

"I know."

And in the end that was all that Trowa needed. He forced himself to sit back on his heels and watch as Wufei's head slid below the surface and sank to the bottom, pulling Trowa's heart along with it. The capsule lid reappeared and the room was silent.

For a long time.


	31. Chapter 31

31:

Time he needed and time he received. It took a long time for his chest to heal and he spent it staring at a white ceiling somewhere in Preventers hospital in his own private room with strict orders that no one enter. It had worked for a day or two before Quatre had barged his way in, and then Duo had followed and after that there was an increasingly long list of names for people who were exempt from his orders. Trowa wasn't sure how that worked, but also wasn't in a position to find out so he just went with it. For the moment.

It was a fascinating ceiling. White, just a plain bright white not an eggshell colour at all. With no markings, no even a tiny piece of fly poo to contemplate. It reminded him every time he opened his eyes of the light from the Eye and every time he fell asleep he imagined he was being demolecularized. The pain in his chest and the nausea he felt in waking alone certainly felt that way.

It was exactly two months twenty seven days when he finally tired of just lying in bed waiting for his body to heal itself and he decided to check out, suck it up and go the hell home.

There weren't any clothes lying around so he settled for staying in the track suit pants he had on and his bandages. He didn't feel like wearing shoes anyway. He did steal a shirt from a storage locker, but left it hanging open because buttons just seemed like too much work.

Preventers hadn't changed, for the most part. He managed to stalk the halls without being hassled, and when he got upstairs people stared at him but didn't interfere too much with where he was going. A few people did open doors for him, which was new, but he put that down to his bandages. Denial was great when there was another logical reason for things.

"Trowa!" Quatre called out and came rushing down the corridor to meet him, hands flailing for a moment before he decided Trowa was able to walk on his own. "Should you be up?"

"Yes."

"Okay..." And that was that, because no one argued with a gundam pilot about when they were ready to return to duty, plain and simple.

"What are you doing here? Don't you have an empire to run or something?" Because Quatre rarely stayed in one place longer than a day or two, or when he was hiding out for a weekend at Trowa's and Trowa was sure he'd seen Quatre every day or two since he was brought to Preventers for treatment, as if what was wrong could be treated.

"I'm on sabbatical." Quatre won his laugh, but it didn't last long. Trowa wasn't really in the mood for laughing yet, and doubted he would be for some time.

"Most people don't work while on sabbatical."

"Most people don't get hired to run Preventers by the person who bought it off them."

He'd forgotten about that, wallowing in the memories of everything else that had happened. The smaller details had faded into insignificance, including his buying Preventers and sending Quatre back to deal with the fallout of it and to get the Preventers ships to withdraw from Frank before a war started.

"I don't remember hiring you," he mumbled, sure that would have been something he would recall doing.

"That's because you didn't,"Quatre smirked. "It just looks like you did on paper."

"Huh. Smart decision that one. I have the best ideas." He liked that it would have confused people to, that he bought Preventers off Quatre Winner just to hire him to run it for him. He was of the strong opinion people needed to be confused more often, if they were ever going to find a solution to the worlds problems. He had an invested interest in some of the worlds finer problems.

"Where are you going?"

"Home. I want to go home." Finally, at last, it was time.

"I'll get a car." He was already reaching for his phone and Trowa reached out to snatch it from his hands, shaking his head but s,idling because some things would never change.

"_Home _Quatre."

"Oh." He was immediately sad and Towa regretted being responsible for that sadness but there wasn't anything he could do about it either. He just waited and after a minute Quatre as smiling again and leading the way to the Transporter.

Trowa sighed, wondering just how many transporters had already been installed on earth for use by world leaders and dignitaries, and how long it would be before every family had one. A while he suspected, as it wasn't a comfortable ride and those higher up would want to spend so,e time having it to themselves first, but eventually. It would happen.

It was the room they had originally commandeered to build the Molecularizer in, but offices and been installed around it, alterations made so it was no longer a random room in an unoccupied sector of the building but instead was the hub of activity for those running Preventers. They even passed Une's office but Trowa definitely didn't want to stop in to say hey.

The room itself had changed as well and Trowa didn't need to ask to know how. The clean, smooth lines and the pure finesse of it all could only come from one person.

"Hatty."

"She was here for a few days. I spoke to her at length, with Une because she wouldn't go in a room with me by herself, but she was eventually cleared for duty."

_"What?_" Had they lost their freaking minds?

"She wanted to work with us. Wanted a very specific role too. We all agreed it was the best place for her, and she was the best fit for the job."

Trowa was still trying to process Hatty being a Preventer. Though, considering the last conversation they had, it made sense. Preventers was all about preventing loss of life, getting in early and making sure it didn't happen, again and again. It suited Hatty, for the same reasons it suited all of them. They'd all had to make those decisions.

"What position?"

"Currently? She's Overseer for Preventers' newest acquisition."

"Frank," Trowa realised and found himself laughing. "You put her in charge of Frank." it made sense, in no way at all. Put the Artilect in charge of the greatest weapon on in the known universe. That way if it decided to go postal, nothing could stop it. Fantastic idea.

"No!" Quatre seemed offended and amused at the same time. He manoeuvred Trowa into position on the Pad and went to the controls, presumably connecting to Frank and arranging a transfer. But he was grinning when the light started to swirl at Trowa's feet and it was strange enough to draw Trowas attention from the floor.

"We put you in charge of Frank. We made Hatty your partner."

There was no time to deal with the shock. Quatre waved and then he was gone, his words still echoing in Trowa's ears as the Origin Capsule filled his vision.

Everything else faded. His chest ached, but was whole and he walked forward as if pulled by another force, striding to it and collapsing against it, staring inside and feeling the agony anew. Because this was the real wound suffered.

He looked peaceful, floating in his own world, asleep. Trowa barely saw the cables any more, or the ports where they entered Wufei. They were just a part of him now, like fingernails. To Trowa he was the most beautiful thing in the world. The sense of home engulfed him and for a while all he did was sit there, staring, letting it all settle somewhere deep inside.

"I'm home."

The message board came to life on the screen and Trowa just stared at the words that appeared, disbelieving and wondering if it would ever stop hurting so much.

_Welcome home, Trowa. _

"Wufei?"

_What took you so long?_

Changes to the system. Improvements to ensure it ran as it was supposed to. Whatever Hatty had done, Trowa could kiss her for it. Wufei was a free entity within the system, working with Frank but also apart. Able to communicate. Able to give Trowa at lest that small piece of himself.

"I'm sorry. I didn't..." Didn't know, hadn't thought to believe Hatty might give him that kind of gift. Hadn't believed, and had underestimated. Again. He really had to stop doing that.

_You're home now. _

Yes he was, and that was all that mattered.

The elevator ding sounded and he turned just in time to see Hatty sprint out of it, squealing in delight as she launched herself at him.

"TRITON!"

She was light as he snatched her up out of the air and spun to take a momentum and give her a fun ride at the same time. Lighter than a human by far, and so much more delicate. Capable of so much more.

He wondered if they'd ever stopped to think, when they postulated their theories at the turn of the century, about what Artilects might feel. If they ever thought that by giving a machine a human minds capabilities they might also give it emotions, and understanding of those emotions. If they had believed for a second that they could and would manufacture a soul. Probably not.

"You're home, you're home, you're home!" She was so excited by his return it was impossible to be angry at her, but the hurt remained that she could save Wufei, but wouldn't. Because she didn't believe he needed saving. Because she believed she had saved him. That this was the best state for him. For now. And maybe she was right, but that didn't help him forgive her. Deep down, they both knew he would never forgive her, and they had each come to terms with that.

She was wearing black tights under a short black dress with the Preventers logo on the breast, and a Preventers cap turned to the side. Her hair was out, framing her face like dark silk, making her eyes seem bigger than they were and softening the lines if her face. She was moe feminine than Wufei, gentler and smoother and it was easier now to see the differences as she became her own person. Confident and certain of her own dreams.

"Its good to see you, Hatty."

"Did you miss me?" There was a touch of pleading in her voice and he found he had. He'd missed searching for those hints of humanity and the awe he felt in finding them.

"Yes. I missed you." How could he not, when she was a part of Wufei?

"I joined Preventers!" And she was so damn excited about it.

"I heard," he answered dryly, rolling his eyes as he carefully put her down and headed for the elevator, not surprised at all when she fell into step beside him.

"Isn't it great? We're partners!" The next best thing to lovers? Did she really know what it was to be partners? But she'd seen them work together, and apparently that was what she wanted. To be his shield.

"It _is_ Beethoven," Trowa muttered and shook his head. "Why is there elevator music?"

"Research shows it calms people down and keeps them from panicking in an enclosed space," Hatty replied immediately, but she was looking at him curiously. "You don't like it?"

"No, I do. It's nice. It's just...I like it." Because she would never understand why it was strange to have everyday life things in Frank, because he was her everyday life.

"Oh...good. I asked Wufei if we should change it, but he said Beethoven was fine. But that Tchaikovsky was your favourite?"

It made him laugh, imagining Wufei's frustration with her asking incessant questions about Trowa, but his need to agree with her to make Trowa comfortable. To make it feel like home when all Wufei had to do was be there and that was done. He wondered what else they had talked about and wished he had been part of the conversation instead of the topic.

"Tchaikovsky is my favourite," he agreed, and he was grinning because he'd never told Wufei that.

The doors opened and he stepped out into a field of passion flowers. There were hundreds more now. Thousands, even. So many he suspected he was feeling happier than he should and he looked over at Hatty sternly.

"What? The adjustments I made to the system need fresh ingredients to work at optimum capacity!" She meant the changes she had made to Wufei, but he didn't correct her, just glared harder.

"Hatty, did you move things around so that I could give Wufei fresh flowers every morning?"

"Well, maybe that had a tiny bit to do with it," she mumbled, and she was blushing. Hard. "But they need to be fresh, too!" But they could have come from anywhere on the station for that. She had wanted him to give Wufei flowers and he realised she loved Wufei, not in the creepy adolescent way she was infatuated with him, but like a child loves a parent. Or it's creator. Unconditionally.

"That's nice, Hatty. We can both take him flowers, okay? But no more changing things around just to try and help me date my boyfriend, okay?" Because seriously, that was weird and he did not need help!

"Okay." She sounded like a chastised child, but there was glee underneath because he was happy and she knew it.

He caught the shuttle to his room, because he could and because he liked the ride. He suspected Hatty hadn't moved his room because she knew he liked the ride, and because he had a Pad in his shower to take him anywhere if he was in a hurry.

The shrine was a busy as always as hey passed it. He looked for Farrar Paige knowing he wasn't there. He didn't need to know what had happened to the man. Whatever punishment Preventers had dreamt up was good enough for him, because Trowa wanted him to live to see his plans come to naught. For Trowa to make something amazing out of Frank.

"There are still so many people..."

"Lady Une came on board and made sure what happened was explained to everyone and that Preventers now owned Frank, which made you the boss? They were all given the option of relocation. The people from Level 5 all had to go, some were trialled for their actions and imprisoned. But the ones who had a choice to stay all did."

Because regardless of why it was created, the people here were happy. Just like Trowa, they felt the guiding hand behind their lives and they loved it. How could he not love living in something controlled by Wufei? He just smiled and nodded so she knew he understood and he went up the stair into the shrine.

People recognised him, and some nodded their heads and others waved while still more recognised Hatty and came over to say hello and talk softly to her. He realised she came here often and that the locals knew her and who she was. They were friends, and they talked about everyday things like dinner and children.

Shaking his Head, Trowa went and bought a candle and lit it at the shrine, sending out his own quiet prayers and standing in silence for a few minutes. He almost decked the poor monk who dared to come and stand beside him.

"My name is Jay. I am the leader of our small group of brothers. I wanted to apologise, for the troubles one of ours caused you."

"No apology is needed," Trowa assured the man. He hadn't hit him, after all. "one mans actions are never an accurate representation of a people."

Jay smiled and nodded and left it at that, and Trowa knew they wold meet again. Often and regularly, and that they would talk about children and dinner, too. He smiled and went to fetch Hatty from her gaggle of followers before moving on.

His Room was thankfully right where he had left it, but it was bigger than it had been. He went in and fetched a fresh set of white from the closet and went to have a shower, leaving Hatty in the kitchen with the blender and hoping it wasn't a bad idea. It had to be a better one than taking her in the shower with him.

The shower had been expanded and the Pad now rested over in the corner, separate and thankfully where no one would molecularize while he was trying to bathe. It had its own small cubicle and everything. The shower was larger as well, much more comfortable and he didn't miss that you could now easily fit two people in there. It hurt, because why make it bigger, unless...

"Hatty!"

"Yes?" She was blushing as she stuck her head around the door and he didn't even car, standing there naked in front of her, water spraying hard on his back and keeping his head clear while his temperature soared with elation.

"Why did you expand the shower?"

"I thought it would be weird to have someone molecularize next to you while you were naked?"

"I figured that, but the actual shower is big enough for two now. Why did you make it like that?"

"For when miss Po and Duo finish upgrading Nataku."

"Miss Po and _Duo?_" He was missing things, obviously, but she was gone so he finished his shower quickly and got dressed, amused when he realised his whites had the Preventer logo on the breast. She was holding out a Preventers hat when he went back into the main room and he laughed as he put it on.

"There are jackets too! But Duo said they would have to make one in my size, so I don't have one yet. Yours is in the closet though."

"Thanks." Because else could he say? She had been taking care of everything while he wallowed. She'd even made him a juice. He sipped at it while he thought bout what she had said.

"Sally and Duo are here? And they're working on Nataku?"

"In the workshop," Hatty agreed.

"Which means Heero is here."

"In charge of Level 1," Hatty grinned.

Of course he was. Trowa would have laughed but wasn't sure he would stop if he started. Instead, he went back into the bathroom and got on the Pad, not surprised when Hatty got on and knew exactly where he wanted to go. The light swept up his leg and Trowa didn't even brace himself this time. There was no nausea, no hint that his body had been broken down into particles in one place and reassembled in another.

"Trowa!" Duo ran over and hugged him hard, slapping him on the back and grinning. "Finally! I was starting to think you weren't coming back..." And maybe Duo was the only one who really understood how hard it had been, to leave in the first place. To get up and let them take him back for treatment when he'd been ready to die, sitting there bleeding out against the capsule in the silence no one dared to break.

"You're trying to finish Nataku?" Was it even possible, could it even work? Harrison hadn't thought so, had he? Or had he just moved on because it hadn't been his goal to begin with? He'd wanted to make an Artilect, and he'd realised that wasn't going to be Frank or Nataku, so he'd moved on to making Hatty. But that didn't mean Nataku couldn't replace Wufei, with the right upgrades.

"Making some good progress too. Step one is getting Wufei out and functioning wirelessly at this current capacity. Step two is moving everything running in him onto Nataku instead."

They were actually going to do it. They were going to save Wufei after all. He was going to have him back.

"How long?"

"Years. A few of them," Sally interjected, and it was clear she was trying to be harsh and realistic to not get his hopes up.

"But it can be done?" He didn't care about the time frame.

"It will be done," Sally and Duo replied together and the hope they birthed in him was worth more than any of the wealth and power he had accumulated over the years. It would happen. He just had to be patient and one day he would have Wufei back again and they would have the life they wanted. Together.

"Everything's going to be okay, Tro. Just trust us, and give us some time." It was still weird that Duo had apparently made it his self appointed mission to assist Sally in freeing Wufei, but Trowa had to admit he would suit the job. Where Sally was good with the human machine, Duo matched her with mechanics. Together they had a good chance of figuring it out, and he knew neither would stop until it was done.

"What can I do?"

"Go rule over your kingdom and stare longingly into Snow Whites time capsule foot pass the time." Duo smirked and Trowa wanted to punch him in the nose but he was valuable now.

_Maxwell. _

"Sorry, Fei." He even looked sheepish. Trowa looked from him to the words on the computer screen and was grateful he was so damn good at hiding his emotions. He s going to have to be with Wufei literally in the walls.

"Oh, and don't forget to feed Shelley!" Sally added, but she was distracted by something she was working on and Trowa was left standing there, staring.

"Hatty. Take me to Shelley?"

"Okay!"

He stepped back onto the Pad and the next thing he knew they were in the elevator again and Beethoven was playing. Maybe he would make up a playlist or something. Apparently he was going to have the time. The doors opened with the familiar _ding_ and he followed Hatty out into the field of passion flowers again.

Hatty pulled a small tablet out of her dress and handed it over. The screen was a simple message board and he looked at her curiously.

"I can talk to him any old time, but you'll need that."

_I want you to have everything you want._

He blinked at the screen because it seemed to him he had everything he had ever wanted, and eventually he was going to have more. He would have Wufei, it was all going to work out, so the message didn't make a whole lot of sense.

_I love you._

A familiar trumpet sounded and Trowa looked up and just stared. For a long time. And then he laughed. So hard he cried. And after a while he went over and got to know Shelley, and gave her peanuts so she could eat the shells, and helped Hatty up to ride on her back around the field of passion flowers. And didn't give a moments thought to the logistics of how they had gotten an elephant on board.

_I love you too. _

_END_

_A huge thanks to those who read PoJ. If youre interested you can listen to endsongs here:  artist/artist_songs/1942550_

_Return to Me (Trowa PoV)_

_The Answer(Wufei PoV)_


End file.
